05.10.07
Chinatown, New Chinatown or Asia Town?
A warning or an invitation?
There’s some debate in Houston these days whether to officially call its pan-Asian commercial district “Chinatown”, “New Chinatown” or “Asia Town”. Since the area now boasts a diverse array of immigrants from Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Middle East and the Philippines –in addition to China– some community leaders and organizations feel “Asia Town” is a more apt moniker, while others just want to
stick with good ole “Chinatown” for the sake of simplicity (for who though?).
Right now, the name that’s sticking is “New Chinatown”, which is being used by the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. The name also distinguishes the neighborhood from Old Chinatown, the area’s original Chinese settlement in downtown Houston which dates back to the 1920s.
New Chinatown stretches six-miles long (through Bellaire from Frondren to Highway 6) and was started by Taiwanese developers in 1983. Today, the community boasts a booming and thriving economy, as evidenced by a number of new banks, malls, restaurants, hotels and apartment complexes.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about calling an area “Chinatown” or any other Asian-sounding name after some folks of the Eastern persuasion start moving in. In ways, it seems rather divisive and segregational, as well as a sly move by The Powers That Be to continually keep Asians perceived as “The Other”. Here in New York, there are many Italian American communities in the boroughs outside of Manhattan, though I’ve yet to hear any one of them referred to as “Little Italy”.
Cliff Hanger said,
May 10, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Well, this area is commercial, not residential.
It’s not a suburb called “Chinatown,” but a shopping/service sector with many Asian (primarily Chinese) businesses. I don’t think that is offensive then, but simply marketing it as-is. This term is used all over the world for such areas without derogatory intent.