Miss Chinatown Houston

Miss Chinatown Houston was a beauty pageant founded by the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Houston chapter with the first pageant being held in 1971 in La Porte, Texas. Miss Chinatown Houston is part of the greater Miss Chinatown USA pageants, the first of which was held in San Francisco, where the first Chinatown was established.

History

As the years went on, the program became progressively more elaborate and well known throughout the Houston community. In 1971 the program included 9 participants for the next year's pageant, raffles, CACA Youth Club entertainment, movies, and dancing. It was also paired with a picnic at Sylvan beach park. By 2000, there was dinner, a 4 part pageant competition, a fashion show, and elaborate music festivities. While the 1971 program featured a beauty pageant segment, the 2016 pageant's segment included 7 contestants and was expanded to a "form and fitness segment" a "talent segment", a "formal gown segment" and a "personality and poise segment". An endorsement from the mayor began in 1983.

Venues

The first Miss Chinatown Houston was held in Sylvan Beach, Le Porte, Texas. It was then subsequently held at the Rice Hotel, Mariott Motor Hotel, Astroworld Grand Ballroom, the Shamrock Hilton Hotel, Adam's Mark Hotel, Westin Galleria Hotel, Double Tree Hotel, JW Marriott Hotel, Omni hotels, Crown Plaza Reliant Park, and the Royal Sonesta Hotel.

Pageant rules and eligibility

In order to participate in the pageant, participants must first be selected from the application process. In the application, there are wardrobe requirements (such as a swimsuit and cheongsam) as well as a time commitment requirement and talent requirement. Participants must be of Chinese ancestry, a US citizen or permanent resident in Houston, single female (no divorcees or parents), at least 17, no criminal record, and agree to release photos and videos of themselves to publicity.

List of Miss Chinatown Houston winners and venues

Year	Name	Location
1971	Cheelan Bo-Lin	Sylvan Beach Pavilion	1971 Pageant Program
1972	Cookie Joe	Sylvan Beach Pavilion	1972 Pageant Program
1973	Suzanne Gee	Rice Hotel	1973 Pageant Program from the Rice University Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1974	Ellen Chang	Mariott Motor Hotel	1974 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1975	Judy Lee 1975 Miss Chinatown Texas Cynthia Lee 1975 Miss Chinatown Houston	Astroworld Hotel Grand Ballroom	1975 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1976	Alisa Toy 1976 Miss Chinatown Texas Dorothy Soo Leong 1976 Miss Chinatown Houston	Astroworld Hotel Grand Ballroom	1976 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1977	Diana Jeu
1978	Janet Goh 1978 Miss Chinatown Texas Shirley Ng 1978 Miss Chinatown Houston
1979	Ellen Sue Lien Thai	Marriott Hotel Astrodome	1979 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1980	Sandy Lee	Marriott Hotel Astrodome
1981	Simone Gee	Shamrock Hilton Hotel	1981 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1982	Virginia Chang	Shamrock Hilton Hotel	1982 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1983	Marilyn Hsu	Shamrock Hilton Hotel	1983 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1984	Christina Fang	Shamrock Hilton Hotel	1984 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1985	Cami Lee Chan	Adam's Mark Hotel	1985 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1986	Marcelle Wong	Adam's Mark Hotel	1974 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1987	Eva Lue	Adam's Mark Hotel	1987 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1988	Chemien Wu	Adam's Mark Hotel	1988 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1989	Evelyn Ding	Westin Galleria Hotel	1989 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1990	Theresa Young	Double Tree Hotel-Post Oak	1990 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1991	Sherry Liu	J.W Marriot Hotel-Westheimer	1991 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1992	Melissa Yeh	J.W Marriot Hotel-Westheimer	1992 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1993	Maryann Lee	J.W Marriot Hotel-Westheimer	1993 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1994	Tammy Gee
1995	Doris Chao	J.W Marriot Hotel-Galleria	1995 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1996	Yvonne Hsu	J.W Marriot Hotel-Exhibition Center-Galleria	1996 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1997	Mo-Lin Liu	J.W Marriot Hotel-Exhibition Center-Galleria	1997 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1998	Francine Di	J.W Marriot Hotel-Exhibition Center-Galleria	1998 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
1999	Ruby Sheng	J.W Marriot Hotel-Exhibition Center-Grand Ballroom	1999 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2000	Erin Wu	J.W Marriot Hotel-Exhibition Center-Galleria	2000 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2001	Amy Chang	J.W Marriot Hotel-Exhibition Center-Galleria
2002	Le Zhang	J.W Marriot Hotel-Exhibition Center-Galleria	2002 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2003	Rina Tzeng
2004	Karen Wong	J.W Marriot Hotel-Exhibition Center-Galleria	2004 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2005	Jia Hu	J.W Marriot Hotel-Exhibition Center-Galleria
2006	Connie Chen	J.W Marriot Hotel-Exhibition Center-Galleria	2006 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2007	Francine Cheng	Omni Hotels	2007 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2008	Cindy Wu	Crown Plaza Reliant Park	2008 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2009	Angela Wang	JW Marriott Hotel Galleria-Liberty Hall	2009 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2010	Joy Le	JW Marriott Hotel Galleria-Liberty Hall	2010 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2011	Steffi Hu	JW Marriott Hotel Galleria-Liberty Hall	2011 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2012	Anna Zhang	JW Marriott Hotel Galleria-Liberty Hall	2012 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2013	Karen Li	JW Marriott Hotel Galleria-Liberty Hall	2013 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2014	Rose Li	JW Marriott Hotel Galleria-Liberty Hall	2014 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2015	Rachel Lee
2016	Karen Yang	Royal Sonesta Hotel	2016 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2017	Janet Chen	Royal Sonesta Hotel	2017 Pageant Program from the Rice Woodson Research Center, Box MS 606
2018	Karen Yen	Royal Sonesta Hotel
2019	Lauren Yang	Royal Sonesta Hotel
2020		Pageant not held, due to COVID.
2021		Pageant not held, due to COVID.
2022	Christine Yuan	Royal Sonesta Hotel
2023	Grace Zhang	Royal Sonesta Hotel
2024	Teresa So	Royal Sonesta Hotel