Him Mark Lai

Who was Him Mark Lai?

Him Mark Lai was an internationally renowned activist and historian of Chinese America, a highly respected leader of the community, and prolific writer. One of his many accomplishments included helping restore the state of Chinese American historiography. Lai “rescued, collected, catalogued, preserved and shared” historical sources in Chinese and English. [10] He was known as the “Dean of Chinese American History”[1] by his academic peers, despite the fact that he was professionally trained as a mechanical engineer with no advanced training in the academic field of History. He was known as the “Dean of Chinese American History” by his academic peers, despite the fact that he was professionally trained as a mechanical engineer with no advanced training in the academic field of history. Lai was known as “the master archivist” and “The Chronicle of Higher Education” named Lai “the scholar who legitimized the study of Chinese America”.