Chinatown (Chinese: 華埠 or 中國城) is a community in Southwest Houston, Texas, United States.

[3] In the 1980s increasing numbers of Chinese were living in Southwest Houston and Fort Bend County and those residents were further away from the old Chinatown in what is now East Downtown.

[5] From the 1980s until the 2000s, the census tracts housing sections of Chinatown saw decreasing income levels and real estate values.

[6] The new Chinatown began to expand in the 1990s when Houston-area Asian American entrepreneurs moved their businesses from older neighborhoods, especially the "Old Chinatown" on the eastern end of Downtown Houston (in the process of redevelopment), in a search for more inexpensive properties and lower crime rates.

[7] Hong Kong City Mall (香港城; Xiānggǎngchéng), owned by an ethnic Vietnamese man named Hai Du Duong, opened in 1999.

[9] The Asian American Business Council estimated that between 2004 and 2008 the land values along Bellaire Boulevard (百利大道; Bǎilì Dàdào) in Chinatown increased between 25 and 50 percent.

[3] Xenophobia stoked during the COVID-19 pandemic caused a steep decline in customers, as malicious people spread rumors about Chinese-Americans in Houston.

The combined border roughly bounded by Fondren Road, Beechnut Street, State Highway 6, and Westpark Drive, and lies between Alief and the city of Bellaire.

Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press said that Chinatown was "straddling Beltway 8 on the southwest side like an entire city unto itself.

"[13] Sarnoff said that historically the intersection of Bellaire and Corporate Drive (合作路; Hézuò Lù) served as the center of Chinatown, though that this was moving to the west by 2004.

In the United States "retail condos" are rare outside areas populated by East Asian Americans.

[15] The community has restaurants serving many kinds of cuisines, including Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwanese,[3][13] Filipino, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Malaysian, Thai, and Vietnamese.

[19][20][21] The Midwest division operates the Ranchester Storefront (中國城警察局; 中国城警察局; Zhōngguóchéng Jǐngchájú "Chinatown Police Office") in the Diho Square complex.

Robert Lee, an executive vice president of MetroBank, said, "They call it the Wall Street of Chinatown.

Businesspeople began to open Asian American ethnic grocery stores and seafood markets.

In the 1980s, Wells Fargo added signs in Chinese and hired tellers who spoke Cantonese, Korean, and nine other languages.

As of that year Washington Mutual (now JPMorgan Chase) was the last company to open a bank branch in that area of Chinatown.

[41] Zoned elementary schools (K-4) located within the GHCVB definition of Chinatown include A. J. Bush, Chambers, Chancellor, Collins, Hearne, Liestman, Mahanay, Martin, and Youens.

[11] Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) provides local bus services to the area.

[4] The Chinese Community Center (CCC, 休士頓中華文化服務中心; 休士顿中华文化服务中心; Xiūshìdùn Zhōnghuá Wénhuà Fúwù Zhōngxīn, "Houston Chinese Culture Service Center"), an IRS 501(c)(3) organization and a United Way affiliate, is located at 9800 Town Park Drive.

The organization Houston in Action gave a grant to the Vietnamese Culture and Science Association (VCSA), which hired Tran.