Hongkongese Americans (
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
: 美籍香港人), include
Americans
Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...
who are also
Hong Kong permanent resident
The Hong Kong Basic Law classifies residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region () as either permanent residents or non-permanent residents. Hong Kong residents have rights under the Basic Law including freedom of speech, freedom of ...
s who identify themselves as
Hongkongers (who see Hong Kong as their home and are culturally associated with Hong Kong, especially through descent, growth, birth, long term residence in Hong Kong, or other types of deep affiliations with Hong Kong), Americans of
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
ancestry (inhabitants of the New Territories), and also Americans who have
Hong Kong parents.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
is a
special administrative region of China
The special administrative regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China are one of the provincial-level administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China directly under the control of its Central People's Government (State Co ...
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
Right of abode in Hong Kong entitles a person to live and work in the territory without any restrictions or conditions of stay. Someone who has that right is a Hong Kong permanent resident. Foreign nationals may acquire the right of abode afte ...
. Other than the
US passport
United States passports are passports issued to citizens and nationals of the United States of America. They are issued exclusively by the U.S. Department of State. Besides passports (in booklet form), limited-use passport cards are issued ...
, many of them also hold a
HKSAR Passport
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport is a passport issued only to permanent residents of Hong Kong who also hold Chinese citizenship. Note that: The passport is referred to both as the HKSAR Passport and the Hong Kong Speci ...
or the
British National (Overseas)
British National (Overseas), abbreviated BN(O), is a class of British nationality associated with the former colony of Hong Kong. The status was acquired through voluntary registration by individuals with a connection to the territory who ha ...
passport.
Most of Hong Kong Americans were born in Hong Kong, United States, or
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
.
History
After the passage of the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, an influx of
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
-speaking Hong Kong immigrants settled in
Chinatown, San Francisco,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
,
Chinatown, Los Angeles
Chinatown is a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, California, that became a commercial center for Chinese and other Asian businesses in Central Los Angeles in 1938. The area includes restaurants, shops, and art galleries, but also has a reside ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, and
Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown () is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west. With an estimated population of 90,000 to 1 ...
,
New York. In Chinatown neighborhoods, many Hong Kong immigrants opened businesses such as Chinese restaurants and supermarkets.
During the 1980s and the 1990s, a large number of high-skilled Hong Kong immigrants settled in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
, where many were employed by high-technology companies in
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
. Many of the Hong Kong immigrants in the Bay Area resided in suburban communities, such as
Burlingame,
South San Francisco
South San Francisco is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is colloquially known as "South City". The population was 66,105 at the 2020 census. ...
,
San Mateo,
Fremont, and in the
Richmond District and
Sunset District in San Francisco.
Many also settled in the
New York Metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...
.
Many Hong Kong immigrants also immigrated to
Greater Los Angeles
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...
's
San Gabriel Valley in the 1980s and 1990s, most of them settling in
Monterey Park,
Alhambra,
San Gabriel,
Temple City
Temple City, officially the City of Temple City, is a city in Los Angeles County, California located northeast of downtown Los Angeles and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. Temple City is part of a cluster of cities, along with Pasadena ...
, 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
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
.
39,523 of the people born in Hong Kong live in
New York.
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
and
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
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
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...
, especially in
Quincy, Massachusetts. Massachusetts has 7,464 residents who were born in Hong Kong.
Quincy's Asian American community is growing, changing
''The Patriot Ledger
''The Patriot Ledger'' is a daily newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts, that serves the South Shore. It publishes Monday through Saturday.
Known for its thorough news coverage of the 26 communities south of Boston, ''The Patriot Ledger'' has won ...
'' 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
* Nathan Adrian
Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian (born December 7, 1988) is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event.
In his Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer O ...
– swimmer and Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
medal winner
*Celia Au
Celia Au is a Hong Kong American actress and filmmaker based in Manhattan. She has appeared in the television series ''Lodge 49'' (2018–2019) and ''Wu Assassins'' (2019).
Filmography
Film
Television series
See also
* Chinese people in ...
– actress and filmmaker
*Jin Au-Yeung
Jin Au-Yeung (; born June 4, 1982), known professionally as MC Jin, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor and comedian of Chinese descent. Jin is notable for being the first Asian American solo rapper to be signed to a major record label in ...
, professionally known as "MC Jin" – rapper, songwriter, actor, comedian
* Brian Burrell
Brian Thomas Burrell (, born March 23, 1972) is an American–Hong Kong actor best known for his roles in Cantonese television productions in Hong Kong. Burrell is also one of the few non-Chinese actors in Hong Kong broadcaster TVB's artiste pr ...
– actor
* Flora Chan
Flora Chan Wai-shan (Traditional Chinese:陳慧珊, born May 30, 1970 in Hong Kong), is an American actress active primarily in Hong Kong television and film. Along with Maggie Cheung Ho-yee, Kenix Kwok, Jessica Hsuan, and Ada Choi, she is kno ...
– TVB
Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and ...
actress
* Francis Chan – preacher
* Jaycee Chan
Jaycee Joming Chan (, born 3 December 1982), known professionally as Jaycee Chan, is an American singer and actor. In 2004, he released his first Mandarin CD album in Hong Kong. He later went to Taiwan to continue his music career. He is the son o ...
– singer, film actor
* Melissa Chan – journalist
* John S. Chen
John S. Chen (; born July 1, 1955) is a Hong Kong-American businessman serving as executive chairman and chief executive officer of BlackBerry Ltd. Previously, he served as the chief executive officer and president of Sybase, a software vendor s ...
– CEO of BlackBerry
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy ...
* Kevin Cheng
Kevin Cheng Ka-wing (born 15 August 1969) is a Hong Kong American actor and singer who is currently under the management of the Hong Kong television network TVB. Cheng rose to fame in late 2004 after playing his first lead role in the TVB drama ...
– TVB actor
* Amy Chow – gymnast and Olympic medal winner
* Denny Chin
Denny Chin (陳卓光; born April 13, 1954) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in New York City. He was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court f ...
– 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
Margaret S. Chin (born May 26, 1953) is a Hong Kong American politician who served as a council member for the 1st district of the New York City Council. A Democrat, she and Queens Council member Peter Koo comprised the Asian American deleg ...
– member of the New York City Council representing Chinatown
* Khalil Fong
Khalil Fong ( Chinese: 方大同; born 14 July 1983) is a Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter and producer.
The biographical film La Bamba, about the life and career of Ritchie Valens, greatly influenced Fong's decision to become a ...
– singer-songwriter
* The Fung Brothers
The Fung Brothers are a Chinese-American duo consisting of comedians and rappers Andrew Fung (born March 30, 1989) and David Fung (born September 1, 1986), who are brothers born and raised in Kent, Washington, they gained traction in the early ...
– comedy and hip hop duo
* James Hong – actor
* William Hung
William Hing Cheung Hung (; born January 13, 1983) is a Hong Kong motivational speaker and former singer who gained fame in 2004 as a result of his unsuccessful audition singing Ricky Martin's hit song " She Bangs" on the third season of th ...
– singer
* Yuet Wai Kan
Yuet Wai Kan (; born June 11, 1936), is a Chinese-American geneticist and hematologist. He is the current Louis K. Diamond Chair in Hematology and a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a former president ...
– pioneer in the use of DNA to diagnose human diseases; helped set the stage for the Human Genome Project
* Michelle Kwan
Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired competitive figure skater and diplomat serving as United States Ambassador to Belize. In figure skating Kwan is a two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002), a five-time ...
– Olympic medal winner, ice skater
* Nancy Kwan
Nancy Kwan Ka-shen (; born May 19, 1939) is a Chinese-American actress, philanthropist, and former dancer. In addition to her personality and looks, her career was benefited by Hollywood's casting of more Asian roles in the 1960s, especially in ...
– actress and model
* Kent Lai – tenured full professor, University of Utah School of Medicine
* Brandon Lee
Brandon Bruce Lee (February 1, 1965 – March 31, 1993) was an American actor and martial artist. Establishing himself as a rising action star in the early 1990s, he landed his breakthrough role as Eric Draven in the dark fantasy film '' T ...
– martial artist and actor
* Bruce Lee – martial artist and actor
* Justin Lo
Justin Lo (, stage name ; born 1 July 1976) is a Hong Kong American singer-songwriter, actor and record producer working in Hong Kong.
Biography
Lo was born in Syracuse, New York, and moved to Hong Kong with his parents when he was two years ...
– Cantopop
Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...
singer-songwriter
* Byron Mann
Byron Mann is a Hong Kong-American actor of film and television. His best-known roles include Ryu in '' Street Fighter'', Silver Lion in '' The Man with the Iron Fists'', Wing Chau in ''The Big Short'', Admiral Augusto Nguyen on ''The Expanse'' ...
– actor
* Jimmy O. Yang – comedian
*Robin Shou
Shou Wan-por (, born July 17, 1960), known professionally as Robin Shou, is a Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist and stuntman. He is known for roles such as Liu Kang in the ''Mortal Kombat'' film series (1995 and 1997), Gobei in ''Beverly ...
– actor, martial artist and stuntman
*Harry Shum Jr.
Harry Shum Jr. (born April 28, 1982) is an American actor, dancer, choreographer, and singer. He is best known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox television series ''Glee'' (2009–15), Benson Kwan on the ABC television series ''Grey's Anato ...
– actor
* Vivienne Tam
Vivienne Tam (, born 28 November 1957) is a fashion designer based in New York City. She was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, and moved to Hong Kong at the age of three. She attended the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Tam's fashion brand ...
– fashion designer
* Sam Tsui
Samuel Tsui (born May 2, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter and video producer. He rose to fame as an internet celebrity known for doing covers and musical medleys of songs by pop artists. He has since released original songs and expanded t ...
– musician, singer-songwriter and an Internet celebrity through YouTube
* Margaret W. Wong – Hong Kong-born naturalized American immigration attorney
* Daniel Wu
Daniel Ng Neh-Tsu (, born September 30, 1974) is an American actor, director and producer based in Hong Kong. He is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese language film industry. Since his film debut in 1998, he has ...
– actor
*Wayne Wang
Wayne Wang (; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong–American director, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese-American filmmakers to gain a major foothold in Hollywood ...
– film director
References
{{Demographics of the United States
Culture of Hong Kong