In the aftermath of the Chinese Massacre of 1740, with the ensuing Chinese War still raging in the Javanese heartland, the colonial authorities felt a need to have a better relationship with Batavia's Chinese community. This led in 1742 to the reconstitution of the capital's informal Chinese community organisation as the Kong Koan of Batavia, an official government body within the Dutch colonial bureaucracy. The High Government ("Hoge Regering") provided the newly recognised council with its first Kong Tong or tribunal at "Jalan Tiang Bendera" in Batavia's Old Town. Membership was capped at eight and consisted of the city's active Chinese officers. The Kong Koan was presided by its most senior Chinese officer, bearing the rank of "Kapitein der Chinezen" until 1837, thereafter that of "Majoor der Chinezen". This body assumed the character of a yamen or Qing Dynasty government department.