Hong Kong resident John Shing-Wan Leung was imprisoned on Monday.
No other information about the accusations against him was provided by the court in the southeast city of Suzhou.
According to a news release from the court, Leung was detained in the city two years ago by the regional branch of China's counterintelligence agency.
He "was found guilty of espionage, sentenced to life imprisonment [and] deprived of political rights for life", based on a statement made by the Intermediate People's Court and published on the social media site WeChat.
Where Leung was residing at the time of his detention remains a mystery.
The US embassy in Beijing confirmed knowledge of the claims through a spokeswoman.
"The Department of State has no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas," they said.
The State Department refused to speak on the situation at a news conference on Monday in Washington, DC, referring to privacy issues.
In China, closed-door trials are typical, and for delicate cases like those involving spying allegations, not much information is often made available to the public.
But for foreign nationals, severe penalties like these are uncommon.
A new law that broadens the application of China's anti-espionage regulations will take effect in July. Any information that the authorities believe to be relevant to national security will be prohibited from being disclosed.
Records and stories from the US and Chinese media indicate that Mr. Leung was actively involved in Chinese cultural and expat groups in the US.
He was the director of the Association for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China (APPRC), which advocates Beijing's claims over Taiwan overseas, in Texas, according to Hong Kong media sources.
The Wall Street Journal noted that Mr. Leung served as the chairman of his own nonprofit, the Leung Cultural Exchange Foundation, which dispatched artists to and from the US and China. He visited China regularly to connect with government representatives.
The imprisonment of Leung is predicted to worsen already strained ties between China and the US, which sank under the administration of former US President Donald Trump when he declared a trade war on China in 2018.
On several topics, including Taiwan, China's militarization of the South China Sea, and the origins of Covid, the two countries continue to engage in conflict.
The US shooting down an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon in February, which Beijing said was a weather monitoring device, escalated tensions.
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