An Exploration Of The CCBA-SF's Survival And Development Strategies Before 1943

CCBA-SF(Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in San Francisco), was also recorded as " the Chinese six companies" in the history of the United States. It is a Chinese immigrant mutual-aid organization founded in nineteenth Century, which mainly dominated by the merchant classes in America. Before the Qing government sending a permanent Legation to Washington D.C. in 1878, this organization had always been playing part of the roles of the Chinese government to preserve the security and benefits of the Chinese in America. It was a federation of several district huiguans originated from Guangdong province and enrolled mainly inhabitants from those districts in Guangdong. While during the 1850 s, the very first phase of Guangdong people emigrating to foreign countries, the behavior of going abroad was forbidden by the Qing government. So there was no possibility for them to get assistance or protection from the China government. While as a grassroots organization which is composed of the subjects of a weak government, without the support of its homeland government, it not only survived tenaciously in a foreign country, but also grew mature and stronger during the anti-Chinese background. It helped protect the interests of all the Chinese throughout the exclusion period effectively. It had also concerned the fate of its homeland-China and even helped the Chinese regimes to achieve their several political goals. Out of the curiosity and admiration for the accomplishments obtained by the organization, the author chooses to make an effort to explore the strategies taken by it.The main body of this paper is composed of three chapters, which present the behaviors and strategies that helpful to the survival and development of the CCBA-SF. The first chapter is: Optimization and improvement of an independent organization. This chapter consists of two sections. The first section proves the organization had managed to keep its independence through analyzing its affiliated huiguans operating modes and the CCBA-SF's attitude towards the America government and the Chinese government. The second section discussed the CCBA-SF and its member huiguans' optimization in the management of funds, property ownership, term and qualifications of leaders, proportion of directors from different huiguans. The second chapter is: Adapting to the America mainstream society. This chapter is constituted by three sections, the first section explored how the organization deal with the relationship with the people of the United States, the second section analyzed the measures taken by the organization in the light of the challenges from the United States authorities, the third section discussed the organization's attitude and actions to the American mainstream culture. Chapter Three is: Stressing and adhering to the Chinese identity. In this chapter, the author analyzed how the organization made good use of the Chinese customs and the Chinese civilization to serve for the survival and development of itself in the first section. In the second section, the author analyzed how the organization resort to Chinese people and Chinese regimes to seek well-being for its own and the Chinese community. It is precisely because of the organization to take full use of these strategies, it can become the leading overseas Chinese transnational organizations until 1943.