| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 85,000 (2018) | |
| Languages | |
| American English, Chinese | |
| Religion | |
| Protestantism · Catholicism · Buddhism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Chinese Americans, Hong Kong Americans |
| Americans in Hong Kong | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 在香港美國人 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 在香港美国人 | ||||||||||
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| Ethnicity in Hong Kong |
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The United States consulate estimates there are about 70,000 Americans in Hong Kongas of January 2023 [update] , a drop from 85,000 since its 2018 estimate; no census by any US government organization has ever been attempted. [1] They consist of both native-born Americans of various ethnic backgrounds, including Chinese Americans and Hong Kong Americans, as well as former Hong Kong emigrants of Chinese descent to the United States who returned after gaining American citizenship. Many come to Hong Kong on work assignments; others study at local universities. They form a large part of the greater community of Americans in China.
The first Americans in Hong Kong were missionaries; their presence was noted as early as 1842, after the lifting of the ban on proselytisation due to the outcome of the First Opium War. [2] In 1949, with the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, many American missionaries began to depart China for Hong Kong; they were formally expelled in the mid-1950s. At the same time, though, American missionaries in Hong Kong began to play an important role in implementing US policy there, participating directly in the distribution of aid and the recommendation and processing of refugees seeking to immigrate to the United States. [3] However, the United States government itself was ambivalent towards the presence of Americans in Hong Kong; President Dwight D. Eisenhower once suggested restricting visas for Americans in Hong Kong to those who "really had an obligation" to be there, and indicated his reluctance to provide emergency evacuation to American citizens there in the event of an invasion by China. [4]
Since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, Americans have arguably surpassed the British as the major non-Chinese influence. There are more Americans than Britons living in the territory, and 1,100 American companies employ 10% of the Hong Kong workforce; the former head of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Eden Woon, was the first American to hold the position (1997–2006) in the territory's history. In addition, ships of the United States Navy formerly made from 60 to 80 port visits each years, although China ended this in 2019 after the American government passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act into law. [5] The US Department of State estimated in 2004 that there were 45,000 American citizens living in Hong Kong. [6]
In recent years, there has also been an increase in Chinese Americans coming to Hong Kong as exchange students or to work for a short time, or even to settle permanently. For example, as recently as the 1960s, virtually all exchange students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong were European Americans, but in recent years, Chinese Americans have become one of the largest, if not the largest, demographic exchange student group. [7] The trend of increasing Chinese American migration to Hong Kong has been especially notable in the entertainment industry, the earliest and most famous exemplar of the trend being Bruce Lee; in later years, actors such as Daniel Wu and singers such as Coco Lee, facing the perception of entertainment executives that Asians could not appeal to American audiences, went to Hong Kong in an effort to improve their career prospects. [8] However, this type of return migration has not been practical for those in all professions; for example, Chinese Americans interested in going to Hong Kong as missionaries often faced barriers from church hierarchies, [9] Additionally, Chinese-Americans often face stereotypes that they speak Chinese poorly, do not understand Hong Kong culture, and view themselves as superior due to their American upbringing. [10]
Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff, anglicised as Charles Gutzlaff, was a German Lutheran missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, Thailand (1828) and in Korea (1832). He was also the first Lutheran missionary to China. He was a magistrate in Ningbo and Zhoushan and the second Chinese Secretary of the British administration in Hong Kong.
James Stapleton Roy is a former senior United States diplomat specializing in Asian affairs. A fluent Chinese speaker, Roy spent much of his career in East Asia, where his assignments included twice in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Beijing, once in Singapore, and Jakarta. He also specialize in Soviet affairs, and had served in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. Roy also served as Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research from 1999 to 2000.
Ng is a Cantonese transliteration of the Chinese surnames 吳/吴 and 伍. Alternately, it is a common Hokkien transcription of the name 黃/黄.
The Cantonese people or Yue people, are a Yue Chinese-speaking Nanyue ethnic group originating from or residing in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, in Southern Mainland China. More accurately, "Cantonese" refers only to people with roots from Guangzhou and its satellite cities and towns, rather than generally referring to the people of the Liangguang region.
Liang is an East Asian surname of Chinese origin. The surname is often transliterated as Leung or Leong according to its Cantonese and Hakka pronunciation, Neo / Nio / Niu, or Liong (Fuzhou). In Indonesia, it is known as Liong or Nio. It is also common in Korea, where it is written Yang (양) or Ryang (량). In Vietnam, it is pronounced as Lương.
The Treaty of Wanghia was the first of the unequal treaties imposed by the United States on the Qing dynasty. By the terms of the diplomatic agreement, the United States received the same privileges with China that Great Britain had achieved under the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The United States received additional privileges as well, including the right to cabotage on preferential terms and the expansion of extraterritoriality. Imperial China's Qing dynasty signed the treaty with the United States on July 3, 1844, in the Kun Iam Temple. The treaty was subsequently passed by the U.S. Congress and ratified by President John Tyler on January 17, 1845. The Treaty of Wanghia was formally in effect until the signing of the 1943 Sino-American Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extraterritorial Rights in China.
Yau is a surname. It is a romanisation of multiple surnames in Cantonese speaking regions based on different varieties of Chinese, as well as a surname in other cultures.
In the early 19th century, Western colonial expansion occurred at the same time as an evangelical revival – the Second Great Awakening – throughout the English-speaking world, leading to more overseas missionary activity. The nineteenth century became known as the Great Century of modern religious missions.
Taiwanese Canadians are Canadians who carry full or partial ancestry from the East Asian country of Taiwan. There are over one hundred thousand Taiwanese who have gained citizenship or permanent residency status in Canada.
Like their American counterparts, a significant number of Canadians live and work in Hong Kong. In February 2011 research from the Asia Pacific Foundation, conducted with Hong Kong Baptist University, suggests there are at least 295,000 Canadians in Hong Kong, which is more than the population of places like Regina or Saskatoon. Nearly 85% of Canadians in Hong Kong were born in Canada, a figure higher than in Canada itself (80.2%). This represents the third largest community of Canadians, after Canada itself and the United States. The overwhelming majority of these are ethnic Chinese.
Pān is the Mandarin pinyin romanization of the East Asian surname 潘. It is listed 43rd in the Song dynasty classic text Hundred Family Surnames. It is romanized as P'an in Wade–Giles; Poon, Phoon, Pon, or Pun in Cantonese; Phua in Hokkien and Teochew.
Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, GBS, JP is a Hong Kong politician and academic. He was the Secretary for Transport and Housing from 2012 to 2017 and 5th President of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). He was one of the few government officials coming from a pro-democracy background.
Wena Poon is a lawyer and novelist based in the United States. She writes English-language fiction. Her work has been seen by academics in the UK, US and Singapore as representative of the transnationalism of her generation.
Taishanese people, Sze Yup people, or Toisanese are a Han Chinese group coming from Sze Yup, which consisted of the four county-level cities of Taishan, Kaiping, Xinhui and Enping. Heshan has since been added to this historic region and the prefecture-level city of Jiangmen administers all five of these county-level cities, which are sometimes informally called Ng Yap. The ancestors of Taishanese people are said to have arrived from central China under a thousand years ago and migrated into Guangdong during the Tang Dynasty. Taishanese, as a dialect of Yue Chinese, has linguistically preserved many characteristics of Middle Chinese.
Americans in China are expatriates and immigrants from the United States as well as their locally born descendants. Estimates range from 72,000 to 110,000.
Hong Kong Americans, include Americans who are also Hong Kong residents who identify themselves as Hong Kongers, Americans of Hong Kong ancestry, and also Americans who have Hong Kong parents.
Both Hong Kong and the Republic of Singapore are former British colonies which have maintained trade relations since the 19th century, and have both become important financial centre, maintaining diplomatic missions and trade offices to further their bilateral relations.
East Asia–United States relations covers American relations with the region as a whole, as well as summaries of relations with China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and smaller places. It includes diplomatic, military, economic, social and cultural ties. The emphasis is on historical developments.
| From Asia |  | |
|---|---|---|
| From elsewhere | ||
| See also | ||
For immigrants and expatriates in Hong Kong, see: Hong Kong people | ||
