Asia Society Night Market shines, displays culture

By Lily Harvey     11/5/24 11:23pm

Asia Society Texas put on its annual night market on Friday, Nov. 3 at the Asia Society Texas Center in the Museum District, providing opportunities for food, performances and shopping to highlight Asian culture.

In traditional night-market fashion, attendees gathered outdoors, walking from tent to tent to try different things. People stopped by shops like Caobao for egg cream baos and Saigon Arts Matcha for an ube drink or matcha ice cream.

Attendees could also buy craft items, like crochet animals from The T’s Creation or candles from LH Candle Studio. Meanwhile, local business Adorned by Aysha offered henna designs.

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Stephanie Todd-Wong, Vice President of Communications at Asia Society Texas, explained the Night Market’s impact on both attendees and the AAPI-owned businesses it showcases.

“For this event, we welcome so many people to Asia Society for the very first time,” Todd-Wong said.“We uplift AAPI-owned businesses … and it’s a really great way to introduce them to a whole new audience.” 

Inside the center, Asia Society’s museum highlighted pieces from Asian artists. Attendees could stop to admire abstract space-inspired pieces by JooYoung Choi or Angela Chen’s Hurricane Beryl-inspired cyanotype works.

People also got the chance to try out activities like kokeshi doll making, Japanese calligraphy and mahjong. 

Mark Schneider, a coordinator at the Japanese Consulate, explained the significance of the kokeshi and calligraphy activities the consulate hosted.

“Kokeshi is a craft from the northern part of Japan, more specifically, the Miyagi area; it’s where I was living in Japan when I first went so this is a handicraft I saw all the time,” Schneider said. “As for the calligraphy, it’s a little bit more aged up and gives people the chance to try learning Japanese and see what it’s like to write the characters … that’s how I first got interested.”

The market also provided attendees the opportunity to learn more about Hanfu — traditional Chinese clothing. Founder Li further described the objectives of the Hanfu Houston Association, which include educating people on the vast diversity of traditional Chinese garments.

“If you think about Chinese traditional clothing, a lot of people think about Qipao, which is really two hundred years old, it’s very young,” Li said. “You have four or five thousand years of actual traditional clothing that no one ever talks about, so we dedicate ourselves to let people know there’s this whole category of really amazing elegant clothing that’s really Chinese traditional clothing.”

Jenny Hu, a University of Houston student and Houston Hanfu Association treasurer, said she appreciated the exchange of cultures during the event. 

“My favorite part was getting to meet people and see that they are interested in learning about our culture,” Hu said.

After stopping by these activities, participants could then attend a performance featuring Bollywood group Rhythmic Rani, K-pop group Wonderbox and hip-hop team University of Houston Modern.

Samira Choudhury, a member of Rhythmic Rani, said she wanted to emphasize that dance is accessible to anyone through her performance.

“Performing at Asia Society was very important to me as a person of Asian heritage because it allowed me to bring into the public eye the beauty of Bollywood dance,” said Choudhury. “What was special and important about the performance was showcasing dancers from different cultural as well as dance backgrounds. I wanted to send the message that anyone can dance to Bollywood music, and that kind of unity is so important and so powerful in this day and age.” 

According to Li, the importance of events like the Asia Society Night Market is heightened by the context of recent discrimination.

“I really appreciate the founding members of the Asia Society, especially nowadays with the social, political environment and with Asian hate [during Covid-19],” Li said. “I think there’s a pretty serious issue that we’re facing and having organizations like this is important.” 

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