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.
| 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 |
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 moved to the United States due to the Handover of Hong Kong. They 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.[citation needed]
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, 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
- Coco Lee – musician, singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer
- Justin Lo – Cantopop singer-songwriter
- Jaeson Ma – entrepreneur
- 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
References
See also
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