# 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 | |