Hong Kong Americans
Hong Kong United States
Total population
248,024
(born in Hong Kong) (2021)[1]
Regions with significant populations
California, New York, New Jersey, Washington (Seattle),[2] Texas, Massachusetts
Languages
Predominantly English, varieties of Chinese:
Yue (Cantonese, Taishanese), Hakka, Wu (Taihu Wu, Oujiang Wu),[3] Southern Min, Mandarin (Standard Chinese)
Religion
Unaffiliated, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Hong Kong Canadians, Hong Kong Britons
Hong Kong Australians, Hong Kong New Zealanders
Chinese Americans, Taiwanese Americans
Americans in Hong Kong, Overseas Chinese

Hong Kong Americans (Cantonese: 香港裔美國人、港裔美國人、美籍香港人、美港人), include Americans who are also Hong Kong residents who identify themselves as Hong Kongers (who see Hong Kong as their home and are culturally associated with Hong Kong, especially through descent, growth, birth, long term residence, or other types of deep affiliations with Hong Kong), Americans of Hong Kong ancestry, and also Americans who have Hong Kong parents.

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and before that it was a British colony from 1841 until the Transfer of sovereignty to China in 1997.

Many of the Hong Kong Americans hold both United States citizenship and right of abode in Hong Kong. Other than the US passport, many of them also hold a HKSAR Passport or the British National (Overseas) passport.

Most of Hong Kong Americans were born in Hong Kong, United States, or Guangdong.

History

After the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, an influx of Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong immigrants settled in Chinatown, San Francisco, California, Chinatown, Los Angeles, California, and Chinatown, Manhattan, New York. In Chinatown neighborhoods, many Hong Kong immigrants opened businesses such as Chinese restaurants and supermarkets.[4][5][6][7]

During the 1980s and the 1990s, a large number of high-skilled Hong Kong immigrants settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where many were employed by high-technology companies in Silicon Valley. Many of the Hong Kong immigrants in the Bay Area resided in suburban communities, such as Burlingame, South San Francisco, San Mateo, Fremont, and in the Richmond District and Sunset District in San Francisco. [8][9] Many also settled in the New York Metropolitan area.

Many Hong Kong immigrants also immigrated to Greater Los Angeles's San Gabriel Valley in the 1980s and 1990s, most of them settling in Monterey Park, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Temple City, and Rosemead.

Population

As of 2012, there are 219,231 people in the United States who are born in Hong Kong. 96,281 of people born in Hong Kong live in the state of California.[10] 39,523 of the people born in Hong Kong live in New York.[11] New Jersey, Texas and Washington have 9,487, 8,671, and 8,191 Hong Kong-born residents, respectively. There is also a sizable community of Hong Kongers in the Greater Boston Area, especially in Quincy, Massachusetts. Massachusetts has 7,464 residents who were born in Hong Kong.[12] All these numbers would have excluded those who were born elsewhere than Hong Kong (mainly the United States or Guangdong, China) as well as their descendants.

Notable people

Lists of Americans
By US state
By ethnicity or nationality
  • Nathan Adrian – swimmer and Olympic medal winner
  • Celia Au – actress and filmmaker
  • Jin Au-Yeung, professionally known as "MC Jin" – rapper, songwriter, actor, comedian
  • Brian Burrell – actor
  • Flora Chan – TVB actress
  • Francis Chan – preacher
  • Jaycee Chan – singer, film actor
  • Melissa Chan – journalist
  • John S. Chen – CEO of BlackBerry
  • Kevin Cheng – TVB actor
  • Amy Chow – gymnast and Olympic medal winner
  • Denny Chin – judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (1994–present), first Asian American appointed as a United States district court judge
  • Margaret Chin – member of the New York City Council representing Chinatown
  • John Eng – served in Washington state's House of Representatives from 1973 to 1983
  • Khalil Fong – singer-songwriter
  • The Fung Brothers – comedy and hip hop duo
  • James Hong – actor
  • William Hung – singer
  • Yuet Wai Kan – pioneer in the use of DNA to diagnose human diseases; helped set the stage for the Human Genome Project
  • Michelle Kwan – Olympic medal winner, ice skater
  • Nancy Kwan – actress and model
  • Kent Lai – tenured full professor, University of Utah School of Medicine
  • Brandon Lee – martial artist and actor
  • Bruce Lee – martial artist and actor
  • Justin Lo – Cantopop singer-songwriter
  • Jaeson Ma - Serial Entrepreneur, Artist, and Media Executive. Co-founder of 88rising, Stampede Ventures, and EST Media Holdings
  • Byron Mann – actor
  • Jimmy O. Yang – comedian
  • Robin Shou – actor, martial artist and stuntman
  • Harry Shum Jr. – actor
  • Vivienne Tam – fashion designer
  • Stanley Tang - DoorDash Co-founder and Chief Product Officer
  • Sam Tsui – musician, singer-songwriter and an Internet celebrity through YouTube
  • Margaret W. Wong – Hong Kong-born naturalized American immigration attorney
  • Daniel Wu – actor
  • Wayne Wang – film director
  • Martin Yan - chef and food writer
  • Coco Lee - musician, singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer

    • References

    1. ^ "S0201: SELECTED POPULATION PROFILE IN THE UNITED STATES". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
    2. ^ "Host of Papers Cater to Seattle's Asian American Community : Media: An increasing inflow of immigrants is a major reason for the proliferation of such publications". Los Angeles Times. May 16, 1995. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
    3. ^ "Ethnologue report for language code: wuu". Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
    4. ^ "Chinatown History". San Francisco Chinatown. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
    5. ^ Ronald Skeldon (1994). Reluctant Exiles?: Migration from Hong Kong and the New Overseas Chinese. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 256–. ISBN 978-962-209-334-8. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
    6. ^ Ming K. Chan; Gerard A. Postiglione (1996). The Hong Kong Reader: Passage to Chinese Sovereignty. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 174–. ISBN 978-1-56324-870-2. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
    7. ^ "As Chinatown Changes, the Neighborhood's Chinese Restaurants Move Away from Cantonese Food". LA Weekly. 11 January 2017. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
    8. ^ Ronald Skeldon (1994). Reluctant Exiles?: Migration from Hong Kong and the New Overseas Chinese. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-962-209-334-8. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
    9. ^ Foley, Michael (2007). Religion and the New Immigrants : How Faith Communities Form Our Newest. Page 42. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    10. ^ "2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
    11. ^ "2008-2010 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
    12. ^ Quincy's Asian American community is growing, changing Archived 2015-07-06 at the Wayback Machine, The Patriot Ledger

    See also

    Categories