This is a list of notable
Chinese Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants who have made exceptional contributions to various facets of American society.
To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Chinese American or must have references showing they are Chinese American and are notable.
Look Tin Eli (陸潤卿) – co-founder of the Canton Bank of San Francisco (1907-1926) and one of the prime movers in the rebuilding of Chinatown after the 1906 quake
Li Lu – hedge fund manager and founder and chairman of Himalaya Capital Management
Lau Sing Kee - United States Army; for heroism in World War I he became the first Chinese American to be awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross, the military's second highest award for valor.
James Yee – United States Army
Captain and
chaplain, formerly charged with
sedition; author of the memoir For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire
Elaine Chao (赵小兰) – former Secretary of Transportation (2017-2021) and former Secretary of Labor (2001–2009) (Republican)
Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜) – conservative government policy academic, policy director in Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign (Republican), news media political commentator
Tina Tchen (陈远美) – Chief of Staff to the First Lady of the United States, director of Office of Public Liaison during Obama administration (Democratic)
Andrew Yang (杨安泽) – unsuccessful 2020 presidential candidate
Susan C. Lee – Senator, Maryland Senate of Maryland General Assembly;first Asian American elected to Maryland Senate and first Chinese American elected to Maryland House of Delegates and Maryland General Assembly.
Morgan Chu (朱欽文) – Partner, Chair of Litigation, former Co-Managing Partner of
Irell & Manella; former president (2014–15) and board member (2009–15) of Harvard Board of Overseers
Goo Kim Fui (古今辉) – President,
United Chinese Society in Hawaii, 1892–1898; played an instrumental role in uniting the Chinese and fighting for their rights during the anti-Chinese agitation in Hawaii in the 1880s
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee – Chinese advocate for women's suffrage in the United States, community organizer in New York City's Chinatown, and leader of the First Chinese Baptist Church in Chinatown.
Wong Chin Foo (王清福) – 19th-century civil rights activist and journalist
Wong Kim Ark (黃金德) – his lawsuit established the principle of citizenship by virtue of birth on US soil
Lee Yuk-Wing (李郁榮) – Professor of Electrical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mathematics
Terence Chi-Shen Tao (陶哲軒) – child genius,
Fields Medal winner (2006), professor (UCLA),
MacArthur Fellow (2006),
Crafoord Prize (2012),
Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics (2014). He is the youngest participant to date in the
International Mathematical Olympiad, first competing at the age of ten; in 1986, 1987, and 1988, he won a bronze, silver, and gold medal. He remains the youngest winner of each of the three medals in the Olympiad's history, winning the gold medal shortly after his thirteenth birthday. Tao received graduated from university at the age of 16 obtaining his bachelor's and master's degrees, received his PhD at the age of 20.
Lenhard Ng – child prodigy who was once thought to be the "smartest kid in America". At age 10, he earned a perfect score of 800 on the math portion of what is now called the
SAT, a feat considered to be a “remarkable achievement” when a high school junior or senior did it. Ng is a professor of mathematics at
Duke University.
Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest (林益) – professor of mathematics, systems science, economics, and finance at Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (
Slippery Rock campus)
Yuet Wai Kan – pioneer of using DNA to diagnose human diseases, research enabled the
Human Genome Project, recipient of Lasker Foundation award in 1991[16]
Yu Xie – Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Sociology at
Princeton University; known for applying quantitative
data science methods to sociology as well as Chinese studies
Humanities
Wing-tsit Chan (陳榮捷) – professor in Chinese philosophy, wrote influential translations
Him Mark Lai (麥禮謙) – professor of Chinese American studies
Stephen Z.D. Cheng – Professor and former Dean in the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering at the University of Akron, member of National Academic of Engineering
Way Kuo – President and University Distinguished Professor of the City University of Hong Kong, University Distinguished Professor and former Dean of Engineering at the University of Tennessee
Bow Kum – her murder was the precipitating event for infamous New York Tong war
Vincent Jen Chin (陳果仁) – beaten to death in 1982 racial hate incident by two White men considered by Chinese-American advocacy groups to be miscarriage of American justice
This is a list of notable
Chinese Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants who have made exceptional contributions to various facets of American society.
To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Chinese American or must have references showing they are Chinese American and are notable.
Look Tin Eli (陸潤卿) – co-founder of the Canton Bank of San Francisco (1907-1926) and one of the prime movers in the rebuilding of Chinatown after the 1906 quake
Li Lu – hedge fund manager and founder and chairman of Himalaya Capital Management
Lau Sing Kee - United States Army; for heroism in World War I he became the first Chinese American to be awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross, the military's second highest award for valor.
James Yee – United States Army
Captain and
chaplain, formerly charged with
sedition; author of the memoir For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire
Elaine Chao (赵小兰) – former Secretary of Transportation (2017-2021) and former Secretary of Labor (2001–2009) (Republican)
Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜) – conservative government policy academic, policy director in Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign (Republican), news media political commentator
Tina Tchen (陈远美) – Chief of Staff to the First Lady of the United States, director of Office of Public Liaison during Obama administration (Democratic)
Andrew Yang (杨安泽) – unsuccessful 2020 presidential candidate
Susan C. Lee – Senator, Maryland Senate of Maryland General Assembly;first Asian American elected to Maryland Senate and first Chinese American elected to Maryland House of Delegates and Maryland General Assembly.
Morgan Chu (朱欽文) – Partner, Chair of Litigation, former Co-Managing Partner of
Irell & Manella; former president (2014–15) and board member (2009–15) of Harvard Board of Overseers
Goo Kim Fui (古今辉) – President,
United Chinese Society in Hawaii, 1892–1898; played an instrumental role in uniting the Chinese and fighting for their rights during the anti-Chinese agitation in Hawaii in the 1880s
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee – Chinese advocate for women's suffrage in the United States, community organizer in New York City's Chinatown, and leader of the First Chinese Baptist Church in Chinatown.
Wong Chin Foo (王清福) – 19th-century civil rights activist and journalist
Wong Kim Ark (黃金德) – his lawsuit established the principle of citizenship by virtue of birth on US soil
Lee Yuk-Wing (李郁榮) – Professor of Electrical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mathematics
Terence Chi-Shen Tao (陶哲軒) – child genius,
Fields Medal winner (2006), professor (UCLA),
MacArthur Fellow (2006),
Crafoord Prize (2012),
Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics (2014). He is the youngest participant to date in the
International Mathematical Olympiad, first competing at the age of ten; in 1986, 1987, and 1988, he won a bronze, silver, and gold medal. He remains the youngest winner of each of the three medals in the Olympiad's history, winning the gold medal shortly after his thirteenth birthday. Tao received graduated from university at the age of 16 obtaining his bachelor's and master's degrees, received his PhD at the age of 20.
Lenhard Ng – child prodigy who was once thought to be the "smartest kid in America". At age 10, he earned a perfect score of 800 on the math portion of what is now called the
SAT, a feat considered to be a “remarkable achievement” when a high school junior or senior did it. Ng is a professor of mathematics at
Duke University.
Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest (林益) – professor of mathematics, systems science, economics, and finance at Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (
Slippery Rock campus)
Yuet Wai Kan – pioneer of using DNA to diagnose human diseases, research enabled the
Human Genome Project, recipient of Lasker Foundation award in 1991[16]
Yu Xie – Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Sociology at
Princeton University; known for applying quantitative
data science methods to sociology as well as Chinese studies
Humanities
Wing-tsit Chan (陳榮捷) – professor in Chinese philosophy, wrote influential translations
Him Mark Lai (麥禮謙) – professor of Chinese American studies
Stephen Z.D. Cheng – Professor and former Dean in the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering at the University of Akron, member of National Academic of Engineering
Way Kuo – President and University Distinguished Professor of the City University of Hong Kong, University Distinguished Professor and former Dean of Engineering at the University of Tennessee
Bow Kum – her murder was the precipitating event for infamous New York Tong war
Vincent Jen Chin (陳果仁) – beaten to death in 1982 racial hate incident by two White men considered by Chinese-American advocacy groups to be miscarriage of American justice