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The antique building at 843 Stockton St. looks like it’s got the Qing Dynasty — China’s last imperial dynasty — sealed inside it. For 170 years, the group behind the building served as the protector of the Chinese American community, fighting for civil and local rights, taking care of the starving and the sick, returning seniors’ ashes to China.
Once recognized as “the representative organization of the overseas Chinese in the United States,” it was the single voice representing the Chinese during the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, and famously fought for the landmark 1898 Supreme Court ruling that established U.S. citizenship for American-born children of Chinese immigrants.
Nowadays, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, also known as the Chinese Six Companies, is known mostly as the go-to place for aspiring politicos trying to win the Asian vote.
At each event, photo ops are front and center. In one from May 2, Board President Aaron Peskin secured a position near the center of the group photo. City Attorney David Chiu barely managed to squeeze into the frame, and two spots outside of him was District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. Sen. Scott Wiener was relegated to the second row, next to costumed lion dancers. In the center was the new president of the Chinese Six Companies, Roger Louie. Above all of them was a slightly faded photo of Sun Yat-sen, who overthrew the Qing Dynasty in a revolution in 1911.
Among other mayoral candidates, incumbent London Breed sent her aide, Daniel Lurie attended the ceremony, but instead of appearing in the group photo, Lurie took his photo with Louie, who had an inauguration that day.
From Stockton Street, the photos go into Chinese-language media and churn through the social media channels of the aspiring candidates. For some, the photo-ops symbolize the rising importance of the Chinese community for City Hall. For others, it means that the community still isn’t really respected.
What’s clear, however, is that the Asian vote is increasingly important citywide and in many district elections — likely determinative in many. The Chinese vote will represent about 15 percent of November’s electorate in San Francisco, according to political consultant Eric Jaye.
Longtime observers question the value of the visits, but the politicos keep coming.
“I would say it’s probably the laziest thing people can do,” said former supervisor and assessor-recorder Mabel Teng, who believes the Six Companies’ role nowadays is mainly “decorative.” “Just go to the Six Companies and pay their respects, rather than shaking hands with voters on Stockton Street or at bus stops.”
“They think it’s a way of showing respect for the Chinese community,” said former supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer. “However, if it just stops there, it’s really phony.”
Indeed, the Six Companies has a diminished role in the national and local political scene, mostly focusing on providing Chinese language education and managing Chinese Hospital. “Due to time constraints and a growing Chinese community,” it explains on its website, some of the old “duties are difficult to perform effectively.”
And “a lot of the people in the Six Companies, [and its] family associations” are not locals, “a lot of them live in the South Bay,” said Fewer, whose grandfather and great uncle were both presidents. “They were both merchants and so very influential in Chinatown.”
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The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, also known as the Chinese Six Companies, at 843 Stockton St., San Francisco. Photo by Yujie Zhou, May, 2024. -
The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, also known as the Chinese Six Companies, at 843 Stockton St., San Francisco. Photo by Yujie Zhou, May, 2024.
But symbols remain important in political campaigns. San Francisco politicians also make it a point to visit Clement Street or Noriega Street to do photoshoots, said Henry Der, former director of the group Chinese for Affirmative Action and former deputy superintendent for the California Department of Education.
And Ding Lee, former president of the Chinese Six Companies, said the competitive mayoral race has prompted the candidates to come to the photo op at 843 Stockton St. with unprecedented enthusiasm.
“Whenever Breed comes over she stays for at least an hour,” said Lee. In comparison, Lee says, she didn’t stay long during past visits.
And “she comes to [almost] every ceremony we have,” sometimes to as many as three events organized by the Six Companies and its affiliates within a day. That could include inauguration of the Sam Yup Company’s new leader, the Chinese Consolidated Women’s Association’s Mother’s Day ceremony, or an event voicing support for amending Prop. 47, which reduces punishments for drug possession and property theft below $950, when visiting Kong Chow Company.
“We don’t really view it as something that is happening because of an election,” said Breed’s campaign spokesperson Joe Arellano, mentioning Breed’s longtime supporter Pius Lee, who used to be the president of the Chinese Six Companies, and Mrs. Wong, Breed’s Chinese grandma, who often travels alongside the mayor.
“Mrs. Wong has, over the years, introduced Mayor Breed to all the different grandmas and grandpas in the community. And so we’re so blessed that she has this connection and special bond with that community,” Arellano added. “This is something that the mayor takes very seriously.”
Similarly, Peskin, whose District 3 contains Chinatown, boasted that he appears as many as 50 times a year at various community events by the Six Companies or other Chinatown organizations.
“As for the performative side, that kind of criticism is well-warranted for people that come without a genuine interest or a genuine goodwill,” said Anthony Ching-Ho Leung, Peskin’s Chinese community campaign director. It’s different, however, for “someone like Aaron, he goes there all the time. He knows the people personally. He knows everyone in that room.”
“But of course if other candidates go to pay their respects, I don’t think you can fault them for doing that. I think it’s important that they have that notion to do that,” he added.
It’s like “one of their check-off lists” to take pictures at the Chinese Six Companies’ headquarters, said political consultant David Ho, in front of its elaborate wooden furniture and with gray-haired male community leaders.
“They all come as frequently as they can, whenever they get the chance, especially non-Chinese elected officials.”
It’s almost become “a time honored tradition” over the past half century. “Even down-ballot races like the School Board and College Board, if they can get invited, they go, judges, mayors, supervisors,” said Ho.
He sees this as problematic. “They’re not addressing the substantive issues that the community cares about … I don’t think they have a substantive policy dialogue at these photo op sessions,” Ho said, adding that, “It’s not a very structured group of folks that would ask hard questions of the candidates. It’s a very unique, archaic institution.”
Lee disagreed. When Lurie and fellow mayoral candidate Mark Farrell visited the building and presented their platforms in late March, the community leaders, including himself, also expressed their desires to the two candidates: Better responsiveness to small businesses, equitable transportation access, housing affordability, and more police.
And, it was there that Breed popped in on Feb. 13 to apologize to a community outraged by a sober living facility that she had proposed — without adequate community input — for 935 Kearny St., a seven minute walk away.
Some community members — including Ho, who drafted a letter on behalf of the Six Companies and the community — were having an emergency meeting at the Six Companies headquarters to figure out what to do, and Breed came in, uninvited. “She apologized to us more than eight times,” said Lee.
But will it help?
It is unclear how Breed’s diligence in visiting the Six Companies will counter polling results showing her deeply underwater among Chinese voters.
Even for Peskin, who’s been nicknamed by his Chinatown constituent as “the bearded man,” it’s still unclear — and unlikely — he’ll enjoy the exclusive favor of Chinese voters who have become increasingly diverse in their voting habits, as shown in the two 2022 recall elections.
And on top of that there’s the lack of access to non-English speaking Chinese voters. “It’s possible that this is kind of low-hanging fruit for many of the campaigns that don’t have an understanding of the Chinese community and the people within that community,” said Leung, referring to mayoral candidates other than Peskin and Breed. “Because it’s something really easy to do. It’s a very public photo op. You’re in a very historical place with a lot of deep meaning. You’re in front of an organization that has a rich history of helping the Chinese community. So I think candidates go there just because it’s convenient.”
Lee said the Six Companies does not endorse candidates.
“Our only stance is to encourage people to become voters … we don’t interfere with what Chinese Americans vote for,” said Lee. “We basically welcome the visits of all politicians, regardless of their party affiliation or political leanings.” That includes far-right MAGA mayoral candidate Ellen Lee Zhou.
Teng also noted that the organization can’t make endorsements because its leadership rotates between six organizations, each serving two months as its president. “For the candidate, depending on which month you go, you meet a different president,” she said. “They only celebrate you after you win.”
Nowadays, the organization that’s playing a more active role in leading the San Francisco Chinese community is the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Teng said. Several major mayoral candidates have already made their presentations there.
To Der, the former education department official, the thing that really matters is how the Chinese-language media report on the contents of the politicians’ speeches.
“Chinese voters, without regard to where they lie on the political spectrum, do read what is written [in Chinese newspapers]. It’s more than just seeing a photo.”