Six Companies: 843 Stockton Street

An important part of SF Chinatown history is the Chinese Six Companies, officially known as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, which is located here on Stockton Street in San Francisco. The Six Companies, organized in the 1850s and formally established in 1882, were an amalgamation of the six most important Chinese organizations, or "district associations," in California at the time: the Sam Yup, Yeung Wo, Kong Chow, Ning Yuen, Hop Wo, and Yan Wo. The most powerful organization in Chinatown, they were formed to help the Chinese come from and return to China, to take care of the sick and the starving, and to return corpses to China for burial. Later, they tried to protect their people from the abuses San Francisco's Chinese suffered at the hands of racist hoodlums. They were run by the richer and better educated among the immigrants, in the paternalistic manner typical of 19th-century Chinese society. The organization was authorized to speak for the Chinese community nationwide. Its Board of Directors consisted of merchants who used their influence with local, state, and national governments on immigration and other issues concerning the Chinese community in America. Arnold served as the President of the Six Companies for several years, today that role is held by Larry