Hong Kong Americans

Hong Kong Americans
Total population
	248,024; (born in Hong Kong) (2021)
Regions with significant populations
	California, New York, New Jersey, Washington (Seattle), Texas, Massachusetts
Languages
	Predominantly English, varieties of Chinese:; Yue (Cantonese, Taishanese), Hakka, Wu (Taihu Wu, Oujiang Wu), 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.

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