<p>The present study investigated the roles of various cognitive-linguistic skills in predicting poor reader status concurrently and longitudinally with a sample of Hong Kong Chinese primary school children. Children from grade 1 to grade 3 (<i>n</i> = 358) were measured on tests of Chinese word reading, phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), orthographic awareness (OA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and delayed copying (DC) individually for cross-sectional analyses. Word reading ability was tested annually in a subsample of 109 children from grade 1 (follow-up group) for three years for longitudinal analyses. Children’s word reading performance was utilized to differentiate between poor and typical readers. Results of logistic regression analyses showed that MA and DC were the two significant predictors to distinguish poor readers from typical readers concurrently. Longitudinally, MA, OA, and RAN measured in the first year were the most consistent indicators of poor reader status one and two years later in the follow-up group. PA failed to distinguish Chinese poor readers both concurrently and longitudinally. These results align with the latest IDA dyslexia definition, which emphasizes morphological processing, and extend them by highlighting the critical role of orthographic processing. The findings shed light on the identification and intervention for Chinese poor readers.</p>