List of Chinese people
Famous Chinese or Chinese-speaking/writing people.
Note In Chinese names, the family name is typically placed first (for example, the family name of "Mao Zedong" is "Mao"). For westernized names, the family name is placed last (for example, the family name of "Maggie Cheung" is "Cheung"). The following names are listed in alphabetic order, by family names.
Rulers and politicians
Imperial times
- Aixinjueluo Puyi, the last emperor
- Empress Dowager Cixi, Qing dynasty de facto leader
- Dou Xian
- Fu Hsi
- Genghis Khan, Mongolian emperor
- Gao Lishi, Tang, corrupt
- Han Gao Zu
- Han Shangdi
- Hongwu Emperor of China
- Hong Tianguifu, king of Taiping
- Hong Xiuquan, king of Taiping
- Kangxi Emperor of China, Emperor of the Qing Dynasty
- Kublai Khan
- Li Hongzhang, Qing statesman
- Li Zicheng, Ming rebel leader
- Empress Dowager Lü of Han Empire
- Qin Shi Huangdi, first emperor
- Sima Guang
- Emperor Tang Taizong of China
- Wang An-shih
- Wu Zetian, Empress of China
- Yan Song, corrupt prime minister
- Yang Guozhong, Tang official by guanxi
- Yongle Emperor of China
- Zheng Chenggong
People's Republic of China
- Chen Duxiu
- Deng Nan
- Deng Pufang
- Deng Xiaoping
- Deng Yingchao
- Gang of Four
- Hu Jintao
- Hu Yaobang
- Hua Guofeng
- Jiang Zemin
- Kang Sheng
- Li Peng
- Liu Shaoqi
- Mao Zedong
- Tung Chee Hwa
- Wen Jiabao
- Xie Fuzhi
- Zhao Ziyang
- Zhou Enlai
- Zhu Rongji
Republic of China
- Chen Shui-bian
- Chiang Ching-Kuo
- Chiang Kai-shek
- Chu Mei-feng
- H. H. Kung
- Lee Teng-hui
- Lien Chan
- Ma Ying-jeou
- Qiu Jin, female revolutionary
- James Soong
- Soong sisters
- Sun Yat Sen
- Sung Chiao-jen
- Wang Chien-shien
- Wang Jingwei
- Yen Chia-jin
- Yuan Shi-Kai
Others
Non-politician royalties
- Yang Guifei, emperor's consort
- Concubine Qi
- Xishi, melancholy beauty
Artists and perfomers
Painters and calligraphers
- Wang Xizhi, calligrapher
- Xue Wei, painter
- Wei Shuo, female calligrapher
Actors and actresses
- Jackie Chan
- Sammi Cheng
- Leslie Cheung
- Maggie Cheung
- Chow Yun-Fat
- Gong Li
- Sammo Hung
- Leon Lai
- Andy Lau
- Bruce Lee
- Tony Leung Chiu Wai
- Jet Li
- Ling Bai
- Anita Mui
- Zhang Ziyi
Film-makers
- Ang Lee
- Jackie Chan
- Samson Chiu
- King Hu
- Ringo Lam
- Ng Wui
- Tsui Hark
- Wayne Wang
- Wong Kar-wai
- John Woo
- Zhang Yimou
Singers
See also: CantopopMusicians
- Ch'eng Mao-yün, violinist and composer
Martial Artists
- Cheng Man-ch'ing, Tai Chi
- Leung Sheung
- Wong Fei Hung, kung fu during the Qing dynasty
- Yip Man
- Zhang Sanfeng
Athletes
- Fu Mingxia, diver
- Sun Wen, woman footballerer
- Wu Qingyuan (Go Seigen), go player
- Xie Jun, chess player
- Yao Ming, NBA Basketball player, Houston Rockets
Educators
- Cai Yuanpei, chancellor
- Chang-lin Tien, chancellor
Entreprenuers
Explorers
Military officers and soldiers
- Guo Ziyi, Tang general
- Huang Gai
- Lin Biao
- Liu Huaqing
- Ma Chao
- Song Zhe Yuan
- Sun Ce
- Zhang Xueliang
- Zhang Zizhong
- Zhu De
Philosophers and writers
- Bai Shouyi, historian
- Chang San-feng
- Ch'ien Mu
- Confucius, philosopher
- Gao Xingjian
- Gongsun Longzi, one of the Logicians of the Warring States Period
- Hu Shih, writer
- Jin Shengtan, editor and critic
- Jinyong, novelist
- Lao She
- Lao Zi, philosopher
- Li Ao, writer
- Li Po, poet
- Lin Yutang, writer
- Lu Hao-tung
- Lu Xun, novelist
- Mao Dun, writer
- Qian Xuantong, phonetician
- Qian Zhongshu
- Qu You, Ming novelist
- Sima Qian, historiographer
- Su Dongpo, poet
- Sun Tzu, philosopher
- Tu Wei-ming, ethicist
- Wang Pi, Three Kingdoms philosopher
- Zhang Ailing, woman novelist
- Zhuang Zi, philosopher
Linguist
- Woo Tsin-hang, linguist
- Zhang Binglin, phonologist
- Y. R. Chao, phonologist and dialectologist
Religion
- Xuanzang, Buddhist monk
- Liang Fa, Christian preacher
- Witness Lee, Christian founder of the Local Church
- Gong Shengliang, Christian preacher
Scientists and engineers
- Cai Lun, inventor of paper
- David Ho, AIDS researcher
- Charles Kao, inventor of optical fiber
- I. M. Pei, architect
- An Wang, computer scientist
- Zhang Heng, astronomer, mathematician, artist and literature scholar
- Zhu Shijie, mathematician
- Zu Chongzhi, mathematician and astronomer
Others
- Ching Shih, woman pirate
- Jing Ke, assassin
- Wan Hu, would-be astronaut
Fictional Chinese people
- Charlie Chan, detective
- Kai Lung, of stories by Ernest Bramah
- Kato of Pink Panther series of films.
- Li Kao and Number Ten Ox, of novels by Barry Hughart
- Fu Manchu, criminal mastermind
- parodied in the radio series Round the Horne as "Dr Chou En Ginsberg MA (failed)"
- Xuanzang and his disciples (including Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie), of Journey to the West