Hong Kong Americans

Hong Kong Americans (Chinese: 香港裔美國人), include Americans who are also Hong Kong permanent 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 in Hong Kong, or other types of deep affiliations with Hong Kong), Americans of Hong Kong ancestry (indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories), and also Americans who have Hong Kong parents.

Not to be confused with Americans in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Americans

Total population
233,373 (born in Hong Kong) (2015)[1]
Regions with significant populations
California, New York, New Jersey, Washington (Seattle)[2]
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 has been a special administrative region of China and before that it was a British colony from 1841 until its return to Chinese control since 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, China.

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

• Nathan Adrian – swimmer and Olympic medal winner
• Celia Au – actress and filmmaker
• Jin Au-Yeung – rapper, songwriter, TVB actor
• Brian Burrell – actor
• Flora Chan – TVB actress
• Francis Chan – preacher
• Jaycee Chan – singer, film actor
• 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
• Khalil Fong – singer and 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 and songwriter
• Byron Mann – actor
• Jimmy O. Yang - comedian
• Robin Shou - actor, martial artist and stuntman.
• Harry Shum Jr. – actor
• Vivienne Tam – fashion designer
• Sam Tsui – musician, singer-songwriter and an Internet celebrity through YouTube
• Grace Wong – TVB actress
• Margaret W. Wong – Hong Kong-born naturalized American immigration attorney
• Daniel Wu – American-born Hong Kong actor
• Wayne Wang – film director

References

1. "Race Reporting for the Asian Population by Selected Categories: 2010". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
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. https://www.laweekly.com/as-chinatown-changes-the-neighborhoods-chinese-restaurants-move-away-from-cantonese-food/
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, The Patriot Ledger