The Chinese Six Companies

Officers of the Chinese Six Companies

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

Headquarters of the CCBA (a.k.a. Chinese Six Companies) in San Francisco, on Stockton Street

Dale Cruse

The Chinese Six Companies, officially known as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, was organized to protect and advocate for the Chinese community in the 1850s and formally established in 1882. It was an amalgamation of the six most important Chinese organizations, or "district associations," in California and was the most powerful organization in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The Six Companies attempted to deter prostitution and encourage moral behavior in the Chinese community and was authorized to speak for the Chinese community nationwide.