Houston's Chinatown first started in the early 20th century, but became more organized in 1951 with the Chinese Merchant's Association. Back then Chinatown was not located in the Bellaire region Chinatown is present in today. Early Chinese supermarkets and restaurants were opened around
East Downtown or "EaDo" and most spoke
Cantonese. Chinatown wasn't just an cluster of businesses for economic purposes, rather it was a social and cultural meeting place with a cohesive and complex identity that prospered from the 1950s to 1970s. However, Chinatown was not limiting the boundaries of Chinese life. Eventually, the Chinese community spread, which contributed to Chinatown's new location. Old Chinatown began declining and many Chinese businesses moved to around Bellaire Boulevard not only because of downtown urban development projects such as the
George R. Brown convention center but also because of internal community decentralization. The first businesses of the new Houston Chinatown opened in 1983. 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. Diho Square (), home to a Diho Supermarket chain outlet, was built, followed by Dynasty Plaza () in 1986 and 1987, a complex developed by a Singaporean friend of Diho Supermarket operator Tsang Dat Wong; the latter invited the former to build in Houston. Developers at the time bought land, inexpensive due to the
recession, in hopes of prosperous development later. From the 1980s until the 2000s, the
census tracts housing sections of Chinatown saw decreasing income levels and real estate values. 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. Hong Kong City Mall (), owned by an ethnic Vietnamese man named Hai Du Duong, opened in 1999. In 2004 Nancy Sarnoff of the
Houston Chronicle described it as a westward shift for Chinatown. In 2005, Christy Chang, a tour operator who operated tours into Chinatown, said, "This area is not just Chinatown anymore. If anything, it's Asia Town" due to the presence of various ethnic groups that began establishing themselves in the community. The Asian American Business Council estimated that between 2004 and 2008 the land values along
Bellaire Boulevard () in Chinatown increased between 25 and 50 percent. In 2008, the group estimated that in construction would appear within two years, including high-end condominiums. Lisa Gray of the
Houston Chronicle wrote that the development of the remaining acreage would likely cause rents to increase and that, compared to many other Chinatowns in the United States, the Houston Chinatown is still relatively inexpensive. In 2008, the Asian American Business Council placed a contest to design a "landmark monument" to be placed on Bellaire Boulevard between
Beltway 8() and Gessner Road () to increase visibility among Asian Americans and non-Asian Americans and to beautify the area. Jusgo owner said to
KTRK-TV (ABC 13) that grocery stores and restaurants in Chinatown were deeply affected by false rumors that one of his employees had COVID-19. He reported declining foot traffic and lower sales. By 2025 it also became known as Asiatown; Erica Cheng of
Houstonia reported that this alternate name is controversial. ==Cityscape==