Huashi, Beijing

Huashi (), colloquially known as Huarshi and literally the "Flower Market", is a predominantly residential neighborhood to the south of Chongwenmen and Dongbianmen in Dongcheng District, Beijing. Huashi was known during imperial times for its markets for fresh and handmade flowers and was for centuries, one of Beijing's notable Hui Muslim quarters.
Location and administration.
Location.
Huashi is located southeast of Chongwenmen inside the Second Ring Road in central Beijing. The neighborhood is bound by the Ming City Wall Relics Park to the north, by Chongwenmen Outer Street to the west, by the Second Ring Road and Beijing-Shanhaiguan Railway to the east and by Guangqumen Inner Street to the south.
Huashi Street, the historic main street of the neighborhood, runs the length of the neighborhood () from west to east. The neighborhood is divided into East Huashi and West Huashi by Huashi North and South Street. The intersection at Xiaoshikou, or the Little Market Intersection, marks the heart of neighborhood.
Administration.
East Huashi, which accounts for two-thirds of the neighborhood, is governed by the East Huashi Subdistrict. West Huashi, the western third of the neighborhood, which contains the Glory Mall, is administered by the Chongwenmen Outer Subdistrict, whose jurisdiction includes other malls south of Chongwenmen. In all, the Huashi neighborhood contains 14 residential communities.
West Huashi.
West Huashi is home to nine of the 12 residential communities in the Chongwen Outer Subdistrict:
East Huashi.
East Huashi is home to five of the eight residential communities in the East Huashi Subdistrict:
History.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the vicinity of what is now Huashi was a scenic area of lush meadows and gardens just outside the city of Dadu. In 1422, an imperial lumber shop called the Sacred Wood Factory opened to process logs shipped from Sichuan to build palaces of the Ming Dynasty. In 1553, when the neighborhood was enclosed by the outer city wall, there were already 322 shops in the area.
By the mid-Qing Dynasty, Huashi was teeming with craftshops, especially those making artificial flowers. Handmade flowers from cloth and silk were popular adornment for ladies' head dress and fashion. Locally made flowers were sold to nationally and won a gold prize at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition of 1915. In addition to artificial flowers, Huashi was also known for fresh cut flowers and saplings.
Huashi was a religiously diverse neighborhood with the Buddhist Long'an Temple, Daoist Fire God, Kitchen God and Saturn Peach Temple, Huashi Mosque, and Huashi Methodist Church. The Saturn Peach Temple was razed in the 1950s. The Huashi Church, built in 1905 by the American Methodist Episcopal Mission, which also opened the Tongren Hospital and Huiwen Middle School, was converted into a depot in the 1950s and then became a pool hall before it was demolished in November 2004. The Kitchen God Temple became a school for Hui Muslim children in 1943. The Fire God and Long'an Temples, which were converted, respectively, into a library and a science center, have been preserved as historical landmarks. Only the Huashi Mosque remains an active house of worship.
Until the 1980s, Huashi was a traditional neighborhood with narrow lanes, courtyard homes and streets lined with small shops. The lanes running east-west were called "tiao" numbered while those running north-south were called "hutongs". In the 1990s, much of the traditional residences in East Huashi were razed and replaced with mid-rise residential apartment buildings.
Baorunyuan (宝润苑), built on North Huashi Street in 1998, was one of the first luxury apartment high-rises in Beijing with duplex suites and underground parking. In 1999, Shantou-based developer Zhang Zhangsun built the upscale Fuguiyuan (富贵园) condominium complex in East Huashi, which became one of the top ten best-selling real estate projects in Beijing. He followed suit in West Huashi, with the vast Glory Mall and sprawling Glory City (国瑞城) condominiums in 2003. Other high-rise residential complexes in Huashi include Flower Market Zaoyuan (花市枣苑) and Xinjing Homeland (新景花园). By 2007 only a few historically significant traditional buildings remain standing amidst the forest of mid- and high-rise apartment towers in Huashi.
From 1950 to 2011, Huashi was part of Beijing's Chongwen District until Chongwen merged with Dongcheng District.
Transportation.
Huashi is accessible by subway and bus. Subway Lines 2, 5, and 7 run respectively along the neighborhood's northern, western and southern boundaries, and have stations at Chongwenmen (Lines 2 & 5), Ciqikou (Lines 5 & 7), and Guangqumennei (Line 7). Bus Route No. 12 plies a figure eight loop within the neighborhood. Bus Routes 8 and 525 also pass through Huashi. Bus Routes 25, 29, 39, 43, 44, 59, 674, 特2, 夜10, 夜19, 夜24, and 夜28 stop at Dongbianmen on the north edge of Huashi. Bus Routes 25, 39, 43, 623, 684, 685, 特7, 夜10, 夜24, and 夜28 stop at Huashi Intersection South, on the west edge of Huashi. In addition, Bus Routes 41, 60, 106, and 116 stop at Ciqi Intersection North, on the west edge of Huashi. Bus Routes 23, 57, 夜7, and 夜28 stop along Guangqumen Inner Street on the southern edge of Huashi.