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 Hi everyone and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】. Hi, 安澜.
Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone.
So, What kind of topic are we gonna talk about today?
Well, Today I thought we talk about something a bit mysterious.
Woo, Is it about folklore?
No.
OK.
 I thought today we'll talk about what is commonly known as a secret society.
神秘的组织，I think I talked about this topic with Brad before about secret societies in the world and conspiracy theories. If you're talking about the UK let me guess you're gonna talk about Freemasons.
That's right. We're gonna talk a little bit about freemasonry.
Freemasonry, Freemasons叫共济会. It's probably one of the most well known secret society. I know it sounds really contradictory.
Oh, yeah. Exactly is one of the most famous secret societies in the world.
Again, because it can be potentially sensitive. We're not siding with any opinions, we’re simply being informative.
Exactly.
Because it is something that every British person knows no matter how they feel about it.
Always something that everyone feels they knows, but actually there's a lot of misunderstanding about Freemasonry.
Em. Okay. So let's start with the very basic, I think our audience probably don't know anything about this society.
Well, first of all, I should start by saying I do know a bit about Freemasonry because my dad is a free mason.
OK, All right. Are you allowed to tell me?
Well, I have to kill you afterwards, but no, I'm absolutely fine to tell you.
Em, OK.
So, Freemasonry is based on the traditions of medieval stonemasons.
Yeah, actually I was gonna say although Freemasons is translated into 共济会, but mason is a stone cutter, a stone craftsman就是石匠, 对吧? Stonemasons是石匠的意思.
Yep, exactly. So stonemasons were the ones who built cathedrals and castles and to do this, they traveled around the country. Now being a stonemason was a very highly skilled job.
Em, I would imagine so.
And obviously, back then people couldn't read and write, they had no ID cards.
So, to show that they were a qualified and professional stonemason, they used signs and words to show who they were.
I think we definitely have similar things in China or we had similar things in China, the stonemasons, also carpenters. They have their signs, their own systems.