Area reflects fast Asian growth

Restaurants, shops and temples surge along with population

05/31/2001

By Esther Wu / The Dallas Morning News

One of Steven Welp's favorite childhood stomping places was the five-and-dime at the Terrace Shopping Center in Richardson. As a 6-year-old in the 1970s, he checked out the latest trinkets at M.E. Moses while his mother shopped at the A&P next door.

Today, when Mr. Welp visits the center, he is amazed at the changes. Asian restaurants, bookstores, bakeries and Buddhist temples have altered the landscape of his childhood.

"And I think that's just great," said Mr. Welp, 50, who is white.

Mr. Welp is seeing the changes that accompany one of the region's fastest-growing populations. The Asian population in North Texas, now at nearly 200,000, has grown over the last 20 years at rates as fast – sometimes faster – than Hispanics, including well over 100 percent during the 1990s.

Asian doctors, lawyers, teachers, high-tech workers and business owners are part of the economic landscape. Asian restaurants are introducing authentic cuisine. And there are even two Asians playing on major league teams in Texas – Dat Nguyen for the Dallas Cowboys and Wang Zhizhi for the Mavericks.

"Asian-Americans have contributed to all aspects of the community," said Dr. Charles Ku, a Chinese-American community leader who lives in Lewisville. "There are successful Asian-Americans in all fields. Many have made outstanding contributions in the area of medical research and high tech."

The city of Richardson historically has had the area's oldest and largest Asian-American community, with most of those residents being of Chinese descent. But as the population has grown, so has the diversity among Asian-Americans.

Among the 576,753 Asians and Pacific islanders statewide who responded to the 2000 census were 134,961 Vietnamese; 129,365 Asian Indians; 105,829 Chinese; 58,340 Filipinos; and 45,571 Koreans. The rest were Japanese, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan or other Pacific islander.

The groups are forming pocket communities throughout the region:

• Plano gained the most Asians over the last 10 years and now has more than 22,000 such residents.

• Arlington is home to the state's second-largest Vietnamese population, trailing only Houston. There are 9,606 Vietnamese residents in Arlington – or one out of every 34 residents. Garland, which is home to the Vietnamese Community Center, also has a large concentration, with 6,736 Vietnamese – about one out of every 32 residents.

• About 300 of the region's 1,500 Korean businesses are in the Harry Hines Boulevard/Royal Lane area in northwest Dallas. North Texas has more than 100 Korean churches.

• Irving and Richardson have significant populations of Asian Indians. One out of every 37 residents in Richardson is of Indian descent. In Irving, it's one out of every 30 residents. Many Indian-owned businesses can be found off O'Connor Road and State Highway 183 in Irving or off Central Expressway and Belt Line Road.

Economy cited

"The Asian Indian population growth rate exploded in the last couple of years due to the increased demand for skilled workers in the high-tech field," Mr. Murdock said. "Asian companies are opening businesses in the United States, and the demand for skilled workers ... [is] being met by people from all parts of Asia."

It hasn't always been that way, though Chinese immigrants began coming to the United States in waves starting in the 1800s, said Lisa Anhert, an Asian studies professor at Southern Methodist University.

The Exclusion Act of 1882 stopped the flow of immigrants from China. In 1943, Congress repealed the act and instituted a quota system, allowing about 105 Chinese immigrants in annually. Asian Indians and Filipinos were put on a quota system in 1946, the Japanese in 1952. The quota system lasted until 1965, when an immigration act abolished national origin as a basis for immigration quotas.

Another surge of immigrants occurred a few years later, when an estimated 130,000 Southeast Asian refugees entered the United States as a result of the Vietnam War.

Dr. Charles Ku remembers 1960, when merely a hundred or so Chinese lived off Fitzhugh Street in downtown Dallas.

"There was a store there that carried some Chinese groceries and one or two Chinese restaurants there," he said.

In the late 1970s, architect Johnnie Joe took over a movie theater on Fitzhugh and Ross avenues and began showing Chinese films. He and his brother also opened a small restaurant in hopes of developing a Chinatown.

But by the 1980s, the Chinese-Americans had begun moving into Richardson. Many worked for Texas Instruments or were attracted by the Richardson school district.

So Mr. Joe moved his dreams to Richardson.

About the same time Felix Chen and several partners bought the aging Terrace Shopping Center on Greenville Avenue there.

"I wanted to build a place where Asian people could shop, eat and socialize. This is how we can preserve our culture," said Mr. Chen, who renamed the center DFW Chinatown in 1999.

Mr. Joe, who developed one of the Asian strip centers, recently opened Lollicup, the Asian equivalent to Starbucks, at a shopping center at Polk Street and Central Expressway. The shop's main attraction is pearl tea, a cold drink flavored with tapioca balls. It's all the rage among Asian teens today.

Keh Shew Lu, who has lived in Dallas for 23 years, said the Asian businesses in Richardson have been an asset to the Chinese community and local business owners.

"Since the Asians have moved into the area, they have renovated or developed new properties. Every Saturday, many people go to Richardson to have lunch," he said, adding that many people then stay to shop. "Those businesses are attracting other business – Asian and non-Asian."

'It is for the better'

City Manager Bill Keffler said the city was one of the first in the area to add an Asian specialist to its police department to help immigrants understand laws and procedures. Interpretive services are available at Richardson's municipal court. The Richardson school district offers programs to teach English to Asians, and the public library has a collection of Asian books.

Mr. Keffler said his office would use the new census data to create programs with greater outreach.

"These programs are not being driven by a void but rather by the fact that this is a significant part of who we are, and we need to understand it," he said.

Another essential part of the Asian community can be found at the at the Chinese Community Activity Center at the DFW Chinatown shopping center, said its director, Jenny Hu.

About 5,000 to 6,000 visitors come to the center each month to catch up on current issues and events through televised cable news shows from Taiwan, borrow from among the center's 3,000 Chinese books and magazines or take part in cultural activities.

But the center, which is subsidized by the Taiwanese government, is also a resource for recent immigrants, a place where they can learn how to access city and county services and get information about the growing number of local Asian organizations.

"We are just like a bridge between the Taiwan community and here," Ms. Hu said.

Mr. Welp, who grew up in Richardson, is also a bridge between the original neighborhood and the more recent Asian community.

"Back in the early '60s, Richardson must have been almost exclusively Caucasian," said Mr. Welp, who traveled the world before settling back down in Richardson five years ago.

He said he was amazed to find an Asian grocery store where the A&P once stood.

"I realized then that a lot had been changed," he said. "And it is for the better."

Staff writer Sarah Post contributed to this report.