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life and times
If you've read through the Jinchuu arc, you must have read Enishi announcing that he is a leader in the "Shanghai mafia", specializing in making weapons. The katakana "mafeia" is indeed used in the manga.
However, there are a few problems with using the word "mafia":
1. It is an Italian word, for its criminal organizations and syndicates. The word came into popular usage when Italians migrated into America near the 1900's. The rest of the world got familiar with the term through news and movies such as the Godfather series, during the course of the 20th century.
2. It is only in the 20th century that the word acquired the general connotation of a criminal organization ruling by force. It is quite understandable that Watsuki-sensei would use the easiest word to get his point across about Enishi's organization to late 20th-century readers. But it is unsure if the word was already used by the general public in the 19th century.
3. Even if there were Italians in Shanghai during Enishi's time, it is unlikely that the word would have been in common usage then. Besides, Italians would have been a minority there.
Instead, the Chinese called hierarchal organizations as Triads. Yes, like the notorious Hong Kong triads. Triads had been around for hundreds of years. Some of these triads were ordinary organizations, much like the Rotary Club or the Masons. But others were indeed involved in criminal activities. These triads had strict codes of conduct and an observed chain of command.
Triads are the organizations China had that equal the concept and structures of the Italian mafia, but not exactly. Mafiosi had to be family members, and mafias were based on family structure. As Enishi came to Shanghai alone, he could not have entered a mafia in this sense. Triad members need not be related to each other, but were sworn to loyalty to the whole organization.
It is probably through a triad that Enishi would have financial backing and connections for international trade (to Japan, for instance) and intra-national trade (throughout the mainland). I don't know about you, but 24 years old is dreadfully young to have acquired money and experience to build a battleship, for use in Japan, without having a large organization behind you. The fact that Enishi knew about hot-air balloons, which Kenshin called state-of-the-art for the time, shows that he had a wide intelligence network, possible only through many connections. And Enishi did say something about rising in the ranks.
Why not the yakuza, you say? The yakuza is much like the Japanese mafia. But since Enishi came from China, he could not have been a member of the Japanese mafia. And using the term might have given a different connotation from the one Watsuki intended. Here there are more explanations why it's not yakuza.
Read on to the next few pages to get a better insight into the Chinese Triads. Also, you can find more detailed, manga-based arguments to these points in this article, as well as this one.