Accidental Blogger

My first foray into China Town in west Houston took place even before I had moved to Houston. My husband and I happened to drive through the area during one of our house hunting trips prior to our actual relocation. It is a fascinating place – Houston’s China Town. Having lived in the midwest until then, I was not used to such a vibrant "multi-culti" street scene outside of San Francisco. I took in the colorful "Asian" visage of the place and exulted in anticipation of shopping there once we were in Houston. The streets in this place are marked in English and Chinese, the colorful store fronts display cluttered signs in English, Chinese, Vietnamese and other Asian languages. There is usually a fat Buddha to greet the shoppers at the entrance. The huge Hong Kong Mall exudes the aura of an oriental bazaar in air conditioned comfort.  Fresh vegetables, fish, sea food, restaurants, travel agencies specializing in Asian travel, herbs and tea are on offer in abundance everywhere in China Town.  Beautiful Buddhist temples (as also a Hindu temple and a few mosques) in the area cater to the religious needs of the population.

Since moving to Houston nine years ago, I have gone back to China Town (ten miles from where I live) several times but not to shop in the the stores that looked so inviting to me at first glance. I discovered after our move that there is a handy and huge all purpose Asian supermarket barely a mile from our home where I can get all the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese merchandise I need. My once in two months visits to China Town are actually to a small, hole-in-the-wall Bangladeshi store which carries Bengali specialties including delicious, fresh Bengali sweets not available at the Indian markets near my home. So most of China Town remains an enjoyable drive-through sight for me – I do very little shopping there.

Houston actually has two China Towns – the older one near downtown and the newer one in a western suburb with a very sizable Asian population. This latter edition, which is just over twenty years old, has become a booming, bustling business center and is currently the subject of discussion in Houston City Council and in the Asian community. The question being asked is whether these few square miles devoted to Asian mercantile activity can justifiably be called China Town. Almost all regions of Asia, from south Asian (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) to most east Asian nations are represented, although businesses related to China, Taiwan and Vietnam dominate. In fact, Vietnamese stores and clientele may be in the majority.  So there is talk of renaming the place to represent reality rather than a nostalgic urban myth.  "Asia Town" appears to be a safe consensus choice. I would prefer something a little more contemporary like "Asian Heritage Square" or a slightly misleading pun such as "Asia Minor." But China Town should definitely not be replaced with some thing soulless, technical and bland. Because of the presence of numerous banks in the area, some business friendly city officials have suggested the ambitious but wholly unimaginative "International Management District" as the new name. NO WAY !!! 

(Hong Kong Mall, Houston)

Chinatown? Asia Town?

While there is no movement to formally refer to the area as "Asia Town," increasingly, that term and others equally more inclusive are being considered and, sometimes, discarded.

When Grace Feng, owner of Grace Computer & Internet Corporation, and the China Town Map & Directory decided to produce an area map for visitors and tourists in 2002, the name was a prickly issue.

"In the beginning, everybody just called it the Chinatown Map. But we realize there are a lot of voices in the community, not just the Chinese, and we’ve talked about changing the name," Feng says.

After discussions with former Councilman Gordon Quan and other prominent Asian leaders, Feng says it was decided that every major U.S. city has a Chinatown.

"Not every city has an Asia Town, so we decided to keep it Chinatown. That’s what most people know this area as," she says.

"The larger community thinks that we all look alike so they still call us Chinatown. But we don’t and that term no longer really applies," said Vo, who became the first Vietnamese lawmaker in the state House after winning the District 149 seat in the November 2004 election.