Longfusi Temple, with a history of approximately 600 years, was once hailed as the "foremost among markets." It has now transformed into a vital platform that carries cultural memory, stimulates urban vitality, drives commercial upgrades, and supports international exchanges. As the Chinese Lunar Year of the Horse approaches, a series of "Galloping into the New Year" festive market events are being held at Beijing's Longfusi Temple. The market focuses on rich "fortune" culture, bringing together time-honored brands, intangible cultural heritage handicraft experiences, Beijing-style stage performances, and specialty foods, while also incorporating trendy elements such as robotic smart interactions. This attracts numerous residents and tourists to experience a Beijing-style New Year that blends tradition with modernity.
Longfusi Temple serves as a vivid vessel of Beijing's historical memory. A centuries-old saying, "Confucius Temple in the south, Longfusi in the north," underscores its unique cultural status. Each historical period—from the solemnity of the Ming and Qing imperial incense hall, to the elegance of the Republic of China's "Temple Literary Gatherings," to the bustling Dongsi People's Market after the founding of New China—has infused it with dynamic cultural genes.
In 2012, a meticulous preservation and renewal project for the Longfusi area began. The project aims to create a "capital cultural and artistic consumption destination where traditional culture and modern civilization enhance each other, and Chinese culture harmonizes with world civilizations," emphasizing cultural depth, historical urban character, and urban regeneration. This is a reconstruction that balances history and contemporary needs. Beijing State-owned Capital Operation and Management Co., Ltd. and the Dongcheng District Government jointly advanced this architectural preservation and urban renewal initiative, assembling expert teams to research ancient capital preservation and historical cultural inheritance, and inviting top domestic architectural designers to coordinate plans, achieving deep resonance between the ancient city's fabric and modern aesthetics.
In August 2019, the first phase of the Longfusi project opened, creating a modern cultural consumption space integrating art galleries, designer hotels, boutique cafes, and specialty dining. By September 2025, the second phase will open, featuring bluish-grey architectural complexes that continue the tradition of grey bricks and tiles while incorporating modern designs like terraces and corridors, blending retro and fashionable elements. Compared to the first phase, the second phase significantly expands the overall building scale and introduces more diverse brand formats, covering technology experiences, performing arts culture, innovation of time-honored brands, retail lifestyles, and catering services, achieving a comprehensive expansion of Longfusi's cultural offerings.
"The project focuses on 'preserving the historical axis and continuing architectural memory,' completely retaining architectural styles from different periods within the area," a relevant person in charge from Beijing State-owned Capital Operation and Management Co., Ltd. stated. The layout of the temple from the Ming and Qing dynasties is faintly discernible, the street-level texture of the Republic of China temple fairs integrates into the lanes, and the commercial traces of the Dongsi People's Market and Longfu Mansion from the post-1949 era have been revitalized. Today, whether at the Longfu Cultural Center atop Longfu Mansion or in the North Lane, South Courtyard, and East Workshop within the block, visitors can admire the interplay between replica ancient architectural clusters and modern urban landscapes. The负责人 emphasized that the project preserves Longfusi's historical architectural styles and cultural texture from various periods, allowing consumers to touch historical traces while enjoying modern consumption scenes, making it a model of old city protection that combines cultural depth and contemporary vitality.
Simultaneously, Longfusi consistently emphasizes the organic integration of trendy living and neighborhood vibrancy, continuously improving public space quality by creating spacious open squares and rest areas that are both practical and artistic, providing a "stay-and-interact" urban public living room for residents and tourists. As a key component of the "Cultural Golden Triangle" of the Forbidden City, Wangfujing, and Longfusi, Longfusi deeply merges historical memory with contemporary art, local culture with trendy living, continually meeting the diverse cultural needs of capital residents. Since the first phase opened in 2019, Longfusi has hosted over 600 offline cultural events, including the New Longfu·People's Market, New Longfu Moonlight Garden Party, "Realm·Five Elders of Chinese Oil Painting" Art Exhibition, Sanxingdui Immersive Light and Shadow Art Exhibition, and "Rushing to Fortune New Year" themed year-end activities. It has successfully collaborated with numerous renowned cultural brands and IPs, becoming an "engine of vitality" in Beijing's cultural and artistic sphere.
Longfusi also integrates culture into every design aspect of the block, continuously creating an artistic "trendy" district in public areas by inviting young artists to display contemporary works such as photography, illustration, installations, and sculptures. These works engage in a "dialogue between past and present" with surrounding traditional architecture and time-honored brands, becoming fashionable spots for young people.
Longfusi has established itself as a new landmark for cultural consumption in Beijing. In recent years, Beijing has accelerated its urban renewal process, creating more high-quality vibrant spaces through regeneration. In Longfusi, the North Lane gathers diverse formats like the Longfu Art Gallery, specialty bars, and themed restaurants, blending artistic ambiance with a leisure atmosphere. The East Courtyard assembles flagship stores, niche shops, and unique stores, converging trendy culture and precisely meeting young people's demand for quality living: lifestyle brands such as perfume brand Melt Season, independent bookstore "Bookmaking," top professional outdoor brand Haglöfs, the first Chinese store of 7mesh, and Outopia's first Beijing store cater to quality lifestyle consumption needs. Cultural and artistic spaces like Mahua FunAge, All-time Space, and Elf Art create borderless跨界stages. China Bookstore reappears in Longfusi with a new look, continuing its cultural roots and allowing book fragrance and history to meet again in the streets.
The South Workshop, as a renewed axis gateway, focuses on core businesses like time-honored brands, specialty snacks, and trendy toys, gathering brands that carry old Beijing memories, such as Daoxiangcun Zero Number Treasure Hunt Hall, Tongrentang Zhi Ma Health, Yaoji Fried Liver, Fengnian Sausage, and Ziguangyuan, while also introducing trendy toy brands like Top Toy and Miniso, and crossover spaces like Sony ExploraScience, where local flavor and trendiness interweave, becoming a vital link between history and modernity, blending heritage and innovation.
The rich and diverse business layout continues to attract crowds and stimulate consumption. In 2025, Longfusi welcomed nearly 8 million visitors, becoming a favored cultural and artistic consumption destination in the capital. On September 17, 2025, the opening season of Longfusi Phase II and the Longfu Art Life Festival commenced.
As a core landmark bearing Beijing's 600-year cultural lineage, Longfusi is not only a "city memory" for Beijingers but also attracts an increasing number of domestic and international tourists with its unique blend of ancient and modern, becoming an important window for Beijing to showcase its urban charm to the world. In recent years, Longfusi has hosted multiple international cultural exchange events: it hosted the 2025 Beijing Reception for Foreign Diplomats, allowing the open inclusiveness of Chinese culture and the capital's international style to shine through mutual learning; co-hosted the Forbes China UNDER30 Tenth Anniversary Summit, gathering global youth innovation forces and enabling the capital's cultural landmark to dialogue with international youth vitality; introduced cultural exhibitions like David Hockney's painting exhibition and the International Youth Art Exhibition, promoting cross-cultural exchange; and hosted events like the Beijing International Design Week Design Night and Urban Renewal Forum, and the 2025 Beijing International Food Festival, continuously enriching high-quality international cultural consumption offerings, allowing Beijing charm and international trends to merge.
The rejuvenated 600-year-old Longfusi Temple has become a key carrier for preserving cultural memory, activating urban vitality, leading commercial upgrades, and aiding international exchanges. It provides a living example of "modern coding of historical genes" for Beijing's old city revival and injects new momentum combining Beijing characteristics and contemporary vitality into serving the construction of a national cultural center and an international consumption center city. Here, historical heritage and contemporary vitality coexist organically, cultural depth and commercial warmth harmonize, making it a new landmark in the ancient capital of Beijing that embodies both historical weight and modern vitality.