Events in the year 1940 in China.
- January 4 — Gao Xingjian, Chinese-French naturalized novelist, playwright, critic, painter, photographer, film director and translator
- January 14 — Li Guanxing, nuclear material engineer (d. 2020)
- January 16 — Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai, 11th Qamdo Pagbalha Hutuktu of Tibetan Buddhism and politician
- January 17
- February 29 — Lydia Dunn, Hong Kong-born British businesswoman and politician
- November 27 — Bruce Lee, Hong Kong-American martial artist and actor (d. 1973)
- February 23 — Yang Jingyu, Communist military commander and political commissar (b. 1905)
- March 4 — Gao Lingwei, politician (b. 1870)
- March 5 — Cai Yuanpei, philosopher and politician (b. 1868)
- April 5 — Song Zheyuan, general (b. 1885)
- May 14 — Luo Zhenyu, classical scholar, philologist, epigrapher, antiquarian and Qing loyalist (b. 1866)
- May 16 — Zhang Zizhong, general (b. 1891)[1][2]
- September 26 — Xu Qian, politician and jurist (b. 1871)
- December 1 — Shi Yousan, 9th Governor of Chahar (b. 1891)
- December 31 — Xiao Youmei, music educator and composer (b. 1884)