History of Chinese Americans in Houston
The Houston area population includes a large number of people with Chinese ancestral backgrounds.
According to the American Community Survey, as of 2013, Greater Houston (Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area) has 72,320 residents of Chinese origin.
[2] The Daily Houston Telegraph, in January of that year, stated that 247 Chinese docked in Galveston and went onwards in the region.
They had operated small stores in Mississippi but they decided to move because many of their previous clientele, African-Americans, left the state during the Great Migration.
Due to racial discrimination they were unable to join labor unions or obtain high-quality jobs.
During the war, many Chinese from southern states migrated to take advantage of the economy and the population increased by more than twice its size.
As ethnic Chinese could not gain entrance into professional schools at the time, the majority worked in businesses such as groceries and restaurants.
[2] This area is currently referred to as the "Old Chinatown", and still contains some notable landmarks including the original Kim Sơn restaurant.
[11] Knapp and Vojnovic stated that by in the 1980s Houstonians, along with local media outlets and the government agencies, "touted" them "as a cultural and economic asset.
Moises Mendoza of the Houston Chronicle said in 2010 that "the population is thought to have grown by tens of thousands" since the 2000 estimate.
[19] By then the origins of ethnic Chinese, in addition to those from other parts of the U.S., were from Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
[3] When Chinese laundries were no longer widely patronized, ethnic Chinese began operating restaurants; at the time not many non-Chinese in the area were interested in eating Chinese-style food, so initially restaurants served American food instead.
[10] The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston of Taiwan (Republic of China) is located in Greenway Plaza.
It was opened in 1992 by Taiwanese immigrants led by Dr. Yu Yan-Lee who pooled their resources to have a community center independent from the CCC, which is believed to solely represent the interests of Mainland Chinese.
The TCC also operates a school teaching traditional Chinese and Taiwanese cultural events.
[36] The Houston Asian American Archive, founded in 2010 by Dr Anne S. Chao, is a research archive as part of the outreach arm of Chao Center for Asian Studies, Rice University, is housed at the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.
The archive has documented oral history interviews of a significant number of Chinese Americans in Houston, in English, Mandarin or Cantonese.
[8] There has been Viet Hoa (ethnic Chinese) influence on Vietnamese cuisine served in Houston.
[8] The barbecue at Blood Bros. BBQ in Bellaire has Asian-American influences, with the co-owners being of Chinese ancestry.
By 2013, due concerns about discrimination against Asians and immigration policies and the lessening importance of anti-Communism, the political preferences of ethnic Chinese shifted towards Democrats and independents.
[13] In the era of de jure racial segregation in the United States ethnic Chinese in the Houston area were classified as white and therefore could get superior educational opportunities to the undergraduate level.
[8] The Texas Teo Chew Temple (德州潮州會館本頭公廟; 德州潮州会馆本头公庙; Dézhōu Cháozhōu Huìguǎn Běntóu Gōngmiào; Vietnamese: Chùa Ông Bổn) is operated by the Teochew people, including those who originated from Vietnam.
[42] The temple was established in 1999 by a Vietnamese couple,[43] Charles Loi Ngo and Carolyn,[44] the former originating from China.
[45] They decided to build a temple to Guan Yu (Guandi) after surviving an aggravated robbery[44] which occurred at their store in the Fifth Ward.
[50] The parish was created in 1988,[49] initially operating out of a commercial center in the southwest Houston Chinatown area.
