Lai, H. Mark

Him Mark Lai was born in San Francisco on November 1, 1925. He worked from 1953-1984 as a mechanical engineer for the Bechtel Corporation. By avocation, he is a historian and acknowledged as the dean of Chinese American Studies. He has written numerous books and articles relating to Chinese American history and held teaching positions at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley. Lai participates in many Chinese community organizations and is the recipient of many awards for his contributions and service.

Biographical Information

Him Mark Lai was born on November 1, 1925 into a San Francisco working class family. The family's Chinese surname was Mark, but it became Lai in America because his father had entered the country as the paper son of a merchant with the surname Lai. Him Mark Lai received an Associate of Arts degree from City College of San Francisco in 1945 and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1947. He was a mechanical engineer at Bechtel Power Corporation from 1953 to 1984.

Through the influence of his Chinese school teacher, Yuk Ow, who was considered by many to be one of the pioneers in scholarly research of Chinese American history, Lai learned to appreciate the importance of Chinese language sources in the study of Chinese American history. A member of the Chinese Historical Society since 1965, Lai has devoted much of his life to studying and writing about Chinese American history. At the end of 1967, he initiated a series of historical articles in East/West: the Chinese-American Journal . As of 2003, he has written 54 essays and books in English and Chinese and has contributed articles to four encyclopedias and other publications. His major publications include A History Reclaimed: An Annotated Bibliography of Chinese Language Materials on the Chinese of America (1986) and From Overseas Chinese to Chinese American: History of Development of Chinese American Society during the Twentieth Century (1992; in Chinese). He also edited Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island (1980). When he published his 13,000-word essay Chinese on the Continental U.S. in The Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups in 1980, he was already nationally and internationally known for his expertise. A 10,000-word essay in the Encyclopedia of Chinese Overseas was published in 1998 by Singapore's Chinese Heritage Centre in English as well as in traditional and simplified Chinese characters.

Because Lai is noted for his scholarship on Chinese American history, many organizations request his services as a consultant. Furthermore, he has been elected president and board member of many organizations. He was a consultant to one of the first television productions on Chinese American history, Gam Saan Hak: A History of Chinese in America (San Francisco Channel 4, 1972-1974), as well as to the Angel Island Film Project, which resulted in the film Carved in Silence (Felicia Lowe, 1981-1987). He was the president of the Chinese Historical Society of America in 1971, 1976, and 1977 and of the Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco in 1982. From 1986 to the present, he has served on the editorial board of the journal Chinese America: History and Perspectives as well as on the editorial board of Amerasia Journal from 1979 to the present. He was also invited to teach Chinese American history courses at San Francisco State University (1969, 1972-75) and at the University of California at Berkeley (1978, 1979, 1984).

Him Mark Lai served as a member of a library advisory committee to support the establishment of the former Asian American Studies Library at the University of California at Berkeley (1980-1982) and as consultant and curator for the Chinese American archives collection (1986-1988) in that library.

Because of his outstanding work and tireless service to the Chinese community, Lai has received numerous service and lifetime achievement awards from various agencies, such as Chinese for Affirmative Action (mid-1970s), the Chinese Historical Society of America (1985, 1998), the Chinese Cultural Foundation of San Francisco (1987), and the Association for Asian American Studies (1990, 1993). He also received an award from the Guangdong Province Office of Overseas Chinese Affairs in the city of Guangzhou in China (2001) for his pioneering work with the "In Search of Roots" program. This innovative program is helping young people find their roots in their ancestral homeland.