Urban transformation in Beijing attracts new ventures
Visitors take photographs on the top story of the Longfu Building. This floor has been designed to mirror the ancient Longfu Temple site. (ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY)
Longfu Temple in Beijing is known for its name, location and fairs, but not for the building itself. For most people in the Chinese capital, the venue is largely symbolic.
Situated some 1.5 kilometers east of the north gate to the Palace Museum, or the Forbidden City, the temple was built for nobles from the ancient Chinese imperial palace. However, a fire in 1901 destroyed the building and its site.
Since then, even though there is no longer a temple, the fairs held in its name continue to attract visitors from all walks of life. An ancient book, Research on Anecdotes in Beijing, compiled by officials and scholars from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) states: "In the first year of Emperor Yongzheng of that dynasty, the fair (at the Longfu Temple) was held on the 9th and 10th day of every month, making it the top such fair in the capital."
The Longfu Building is key to the recent rejuvenation of the temple site. A mansion built in 1988, it reputedly housed Beijing's first modern department store, equipped with escalators and central air conditioning. Local residents headed to the building to buy bicycles and hardware products, among other products.
The mansion's heydays were short-lived, and after 1993 it experienced nine years of poor management, leading to it being closed in 2004.
Zhao Jianquan, who has lived all his life in a hutong, or alleyway, near the Longfu Temple site, witnessed the rise and fall of Longfu Temple Street, a 500-meter-long thoroughfare.
"In the 1980s, lines of people waiting to buy clothes at the Longfu Building could stretch from the store entrance to an intersection on the street," the 70-year-old said. "In the late 1990s, the morning market outside the building also attracted crowds of local residents.
"I was proud to live near the Longfu Building, as it housed one of the four main markets in the capital and sold the latest products. The bustling morning market was visited by locals buying food, clothes and other necessities every day."
Zhao said he felt sorry for the deserted building in the early 2000s. He said small commodity markets and enterprises selling cars, digital devices and other equipment established themselves in the building, but business continued to fall and customers seldom visited it.
%Arabica is one of the coffee shops at the temple site. (ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY)
Business at the Longfu Building declined as other shopping malls in Beijing prospered, Zhao said, with some high-end locations opening in the 1990s.
He hoped the authorities could introduce measures to revitalize the building, and despite this process not being easy, the municipal government has taken a number of steps to upgrade the area.
In 2012, the Beijing State-owned Assets Managements Co cooperated with authorities in the city's Dongcheng district to upgrade the Longfu Building and the surrounding area.
A new company, Xinlongfu Cultural Investment Co, was formed to promote landscape protection in the Longfu Temple area, along with urban renewal projects.
Wang Hui, the company's chairman, said three phases of construction work were needed to revive the area.
"In the first stage, we gave the Longfu Building an entirely new look thanks to a design by an award-winning architect in Beijing," he said, adding that an area on the top floor of the building was designed to represent the ancient temple site.
In the second stage, a high-tech cinema and digital exhibition hall will be built in the temple area, with construction expected to be completed by the end of next year.
The third stage will see a landscaped area built around the Longfu Building, integrating modern elements while retaining traditional style. Museums, design studios and bookstores will also be set up.
Renovation work on the Longfu Building was completed in August 2019, with the venue functioning as an office building for cultural and financial enterprises, rather than as a department store.
Wang said warehouses, canteens and offices were rebuilt on the north side of the refurbished building to form part of a cultural and creative center with modern art galleries and stylish restaurants.
"We planned to build a world-class cultural and artistic consumption destination where traditional and modern culture complement each other and make the area a new cultural landmark for Beijing," he said.
Numerous brands have invested in the venue, drawing crowds of trendy young people to the site.
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Spatial transformation
The M Woods Art Space in Beijing, situated on a four-story building renovated from an old canteen, attracts crowds of trendy visitors. This art museum covers 2,189 square meters and was designed by Japanese architect Shuhei Aoyama, who specializes in spatial transformation and adores hutong culture.
Aoyama planned the building with three floors above ground and one floor below, retaining many of the materials used to build the canteen.
Lin Han, the founder of M Woods Art Space, said, "Since architecture itself is part of art, we hope from the way in which architects have been involved in this type of urban transformation that the potential of urban renewal will be better unleashed."
The nonprofit venue was founded by Lin and his wife Lei Wanying at Beijing's 798 Art Zone in 2014. In recent years, the couple sought to launch a new art museum in the capital.
Lin, who is in his early 30s, said he chose a location near the Longfu Temple site for the new M Woods Art Space, as compared with other business districts, this area has a sense of tradition and history, which could complement the institution's cultural identity.
"We were a little lazy in choosing a place where our predecessors have crafted a story for us, and which people now want to visit," Lin said.
Since it opened at the end of August 2019, artworks by world-renowned figures, including Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Hockney and Giorgio Morandi, have been exhibited at the new venue.
"Our goal is to present artwork by Chinese or international artists－often those who have rarely or never had a solo exhibition in Beijing," Lin said, adding that in addition to art exhibitions, it is planned to establish an art community in the Longfu Temple area.
"In August, we will open a music pub that can accommodate 300 to 400 people on the basement floor at the new M Woods Art Space. This will be a place for visitors to further enjoy themselves after exhibitions," Lin said.
"We hope the art community can form connections with the Palace Museum and the National Art Museum of China in the near future."
Jing-A Taproom, a restaurant and bar in the area, is known for its craft beers. (ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY)
Soul of Beijing
Jing-A Taproom, a restaurant and bar in the Longfu Temple area, attracts most of its customers at night. This venue is known for its drinks, which include Paihuanggua (smashed cucumber), Suanmeitang (a traditional sour plum drink) and craft beers Fifth Ring Road and Beijing Bikini Watermelon Wheat.
The pub, renovated from a warehouse, is decorated in post-industrial style. With high ceilings and skylights, it features a huge U-shaped bar, with artwork adorning the walls.
Cai Haiying, retail manager of Jing-A Taproom, said, "Our customers chat with one another while having a drink after visiting the National Art Museum," adding that the venue is trying to create an atmosphere resembling the hustle and bustle of the Longfu Temple fair.
"Hutong are the soul of Beijing. We have attempted to bring nightlife consumption culture to the Longfu Temple area. Consumers in Beijing want to find more new and interesting places, not just in the Sanlitun area."
She added that the taproom's name, Jing-A, stems from the first batch of vehicle license plates issued in Beijing, and means "local", "old brand" or "limited".
"Our founders adopted the principle of using the best local ingredients to make creative beers in a fun and playful way," Cai said.
Alex Acker, the co-founder of Jing-A Taproom, who is from the United States, has lived in China for more than 20 years and speaks fluent Chinese, was among the first group of traders to bring craft beer culture to Beijing.
He and his business partner Kris Li opened their first craft beer bar in Sanlitun in 2012. The popularity of the pub among foreigners quickly helped attract Chinese customers eager to try a new experience.
Cai said: "We'd been longing to open a place nestling between hutong for a long time, but it's not that easy to find a suitable location, especially for a bar. Opening a taproom in this area is the only way we can make our dream come true in Beijing."
Han Luqi, a 27-year-old coffee maker, who was born and raised in Beijing, and whose grandmother lived in the hutong near the Longfu Building, has similar feelings.
"In my childhood, my mother often took me to the hutong in search of delicious food," she said. "A food street was located along Longfu Temple street, where nearly all the traditional Beijing snacks were sold."
Han and her boyfriend Wang Xu, also a Beijing native, owned and operated a coffee house near the Lama Temple for more than 10 years.
"The coffee store near the temple closed at the end of 2017. When I learned that the Longfu Building was being renovated and was attracting investment, I had the idea of opening a trendy coffee house near the temple area," Han said.
The couple has worked hard to make the coffee store a "bridge" connecting past and present, fitting it out with halved cement pipes and cement stairs.
Han put a lot of thought into the layout. When visitors enter the premises and sit facing the door, on the left they can see the newly established Longfu Cultural and Creative Center. On the right lies the ancient hutong, which dates back more than 600 years and is home to siheyuan (traditional courtyard residences).
Every night after 7 pm, the coffee store becomes a pub serving cocktails and other drinks. Popular music is played and Han makes special coffee tailored to the season.
Clients range from teenagers to middle-aged patrons, and popular television shows are sometimes filmed at the venue.
In April, Han and Wang opened a new noodle store near the coffee shop. Named Shi Yi Cun (when combined, the character means "temple" in Chinese), the store offers a traditional taste of Beijing.
"I chose noodles with bean paste and those with gravy, which I usually like to eat at home, and invited my mother to be the chef at our restaurant to provide authentic Beijing flavors for customers," Han said.
She added that even though time-honored cuisine near the Longfu Temple area has vanished, she hopes to use traditional Beijing food to trigger nostalgia among locals.
Wang, the Xinlongfu Cultural Investment Co chairman, said that although the temple itself has not been protected and restored, the traditional culture it inherited from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) has been preserved in an alternative way.
'Cultural Golden Triangle'
Last year, the Beijing municipal government included the renovation and upgrading of the Longfu Temple area in its medium- and long-term plan (2019-35) as part of the goal to build a national cultural center in the capital.
Located in the city's core area, the Longfu Temple urban renewal project is situated some 1.5 km east of the Palace Museum and 1.5 km north of Wangfujing pedestrian shopping street.
Wang said that in the future the area would form a "Cultural Golden Triangle" with the Palace Museum and Wangfujing.
"Within a 2-km radius, tourists from home and abroad will be able to enjoy the traditional style of the Forbidden City and the international consumption experience of Wangfujing," he said. "Meanwhile, a 'cultural feast' can be experienced in the Longfu Temple area."
However, Zhao, the hutong resident, has some concerns about future visitor flow in the flourishing business district.
"I think that no matter how popular it is, it may not thrive to the extent that the Longfu Building did in the past," he said.
