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Chinese American?

Who is a Chinese American?  What is the Chinese American population?  These questions may appear simple on the surface, but they are subject to definitions and interpretations.  They have also evolved over time.

Defining Chinese American

For data collection purposes, the Office of Management and Budget is the official authority to define racial and ethnic categories for the United States.  Today, Chinese American is a sub-category of Asian American, defined as "A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam." 

This government definition generally reflects a recognized social definition.  It is not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically, nor is it linked to the standard geographical definitions.  In practice, an individual associates his or her race and ethnicity by self-identification. 

The U.S. Census Bureau produces official statistics on the Chinese American population according to this definition and self-identified data, which include U.S. citizens and nationals, as well as permanent residents.  Under this definition and interpretation, a Chinese American may also be described as a Chinese in America.  Definition used in social, legal and other applications may vary, such as the requirement of U.S. citizenship. 

Basic Statistics

The first recorded arrival of three Chinese sailors in the U.S. travelled from Canton (now Guangzhou), China on board the ship Pallas to Baltimore, Maryland in August 1785.  The first recorded Chinese immigrants arrived in the U.S. around 1820. 

​By 1860, the census counted 34,933 Chinese living in California.  More than three quarters of them were miners and laborers who first came to the U.S. during the 1848-1855 Gold Rush and then helped built and completed the First Transcontinental Railroad by 1869.

The 2010 census showed that the Asian population grew faster than any other race group over the previous decade.

Chinese Americans was the largest detailed Asian group, with about 3.3 million people reporting Chinese alone and an additional 700,000 people identifying as both Chinese and one or more additional detailed Asian groups and/or another race. 

According to the 2017 American Community Survey, the Census Bureau estimated a population of Chinese Americans of one or more races to be slightly over 5 million, or about 1.5% of the total U.S. population. 

Additional statistics on Chinese in America are available from, for example, the Census Bureau, the Migration Policy Institute, and the Pew Research Center.

Beyond Statistics

Beyond these statistics, the Chinese American population is complex as it has evolved over the past two hundred years.  Several waves of immigrations have occurred; they were also severely repressed for more than 60 years under the Chinese Exclusion Act.  There are American-born Chinese (ABC) whose roots have been here for generations; there are also recent naturalized citizens and immigrants of diverse economic and educational background who came from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and the rest of the world.

Not surprisingly, more in-depth understanding about the Chinese American population varies according to perspectives, experiences, and even aspirations, notably between ABCs and more recent naturalized citizens and immigrants.  Two prominent Chinese American leaders of such diverse background, who have long been engaged with APA Justice, offer their views on this topic.  They are:
 

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China Policy:

Huaren and Huaqiao

  • The Chinese diaspora, consisting of both Chinese living overseas who are citizens of China (huaqiao 华侨), and people of Chinese descent who are citizens of foreign countries (huaren 华人), have significantly shaped the making of modern China.

  • China’s policy towards its diaspora is primarily governed by its national interests and foreign policy imperatives. However, the Chinese government has been careful to ensure that the huaqiao and the huaren fall into different policy domains: Chinese citizens living overseas are subject to China’s domestic policies, while Chinese descendants who are citizens of other countries come under China’s foreign affairs. Nevertheless, from the beginning, the latter continue to be regarded as kinsfolk distinct from other foreign nationals.

  • The huaqiao-huaren distinction is often blurred in ordinary discourse and this has been a source of much misunderstanding. However, it has not been the policy of the Chinese government to blur this distinction, and it is acutely aware of the complexity of the issue and is therefore very cautious about implying any change. As such, when terms such as huaqiao-huaren are introduced in the official lexicon, they are meant to acknowledge certain historical and contemporary realities, and not to deliberately obfuscate the two categories. The use of the combined term is in fact a recognition of
    the clear-cut distinction between the two groups, and is meant to convey a semantic balance in which neither category is emphasized at the expense of the other.

  • And more from below by Wu Xiaoan, professor of history at Peking University and director of its Centre for the Study of Chinese Overseas

US Policy:

National, Citizenship, US Persons

  • U.S. State Department on Dual Nationality and Citizenship:
    Section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) states that “the term ‘national of the United States’ means (A) a citizen of the United States, or (B) a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent allegiance to the United States.” Therefore, U.S. citizens are also U.S. nationals. Non-citizen nationality status refers only individuals who were born either in American Samoa or on Swains Island to parents who are not citizens of the United States. The concept of dual nationality means that a person is a national of two countries at the same time. Each country has its own nationality laws based on its own policy. Persons may have dual nationality by automatic operation of different laws rather than by choice. For example, a child born in a foreign country to U.S. national parents may be both a U.S. national and a national of the country of birth. Or, an individual having one nationality at birth may naturalize at a later date in another country and become a dual national. 

  • U.S. law does not mention dual nationality or require a person to choose one nationality or another. A U.S. citizen may naturalize in a foreign state without any risk to his or her U.S. citizenship. However, persons who acquire a foreign nationality after age 18 by applying for it may relinquish their U.S. nationality if they wish to do so... 

  • Dual nationals owe allegiance to both the United States and the foreign country. They are required to obey the laws of both countries, and either country has the right to enforce its laws. It is important to note the problems attendant to dual nationality. Claims of other countries upon U.S. dual-nationals often place them in situations where their obligations to one country are in conflict with the laws of the other. ​

  • For data collection and national security purposes, a "U.S. person" includes citizens, lawfully admitted permanent resident aliens, and corporations incorporated in the United States. See U.S. Code § 1801 (i): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1801

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