Huairou, Beijing

Huairou District
District
Chinese transcription(s)
• Chinese	怀柔区
• Pinyin	Huáiróu Qū
Mutianyu Great Wall
Huairou District in Beijing
Country	China
Region	Beijing
Area
• Total	2,557.3 km2 (987.4 sq mi)
Population  (2000)
• Total	296,002
• Density	120/km2 (300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Area code	010
Website	http://www.bjhr.gov.cn/

Huairou District (Simplified Chinese: 怀柔区; Traditional Chinese: 懷柔區; Hanyu Pinyin: Huáiróu Qū) is situated at northern Beijing. Huairou District, covering an area of 2,557.3 square kilometers, is divided into seven towns and 14 townships with a population of 296,002 (2000 Census). It is 50 kilometers from the city center (about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive); 90 percent of it is mountainous area. Its major agricultural products are chestnuts, walnuts, hawthorns, sweet pears, and apricots.

Huairou urban area (112,662 in township) has an estimated area of 11.5 square kilometers and an estimated population of 90,000.

Huairou District is known for being one of the most important water sources in the capital city earmarked for protection. Because of its 69% forest cover, the district is known as the natural “oxygen bar” of Beijing. In addition, it boasts a rich combination of plant, animal and tourism resources. Therefore, Huairou is of great importance to Beijing in ensuring the environmental quality and the ecosystem of the capital city.

Like Beijing, the weather in Huairou is very cold and dry in the winter, beautiful and warm in the spring, somewhat humid in the summer, and just about perfect in the fall. Huairou is well-known for its next to perfect fall weather and the fall colors seem to be complimented perfectly with the mountainous scenery.

The city center of the Huairou District includes a lake with a walking trail and bike trail for recreation. At the top of the trail there is a pagoda overlooking the lake.

Huairou also holds two American fast food restaurants (McDonalds and KFC) and a theater for showing movies in the Chinese language. Chinese food restaurants are plentiful and are not hard to find no matter what part of Huairou one is in.

The main shopping center goes by the name of "Da Shi Jie" or "Big World." It is a multi-story medium-sized mall with a food court on the top floor. Many of the teens in Huairou enjoy spending time there.

Much of the housing in Huairou consists of six-floor apartment buildings, with the exception of houses in the farming and smaller surrounding areas.

Huairou District lies about 20 kilometers from a portion of the Great Wall of China. The portion of the wall is labeled as "The Great Wall at Mutianyu." Another tourist attraction is Hong Luo Mountain on which the Hong Luo Temple is located.

In 1995 during the United Nation's 4th World's Women Conference in Beijing, the Civil Society community was forced to meet in the Huairou district, an hour from the official proceedings, leading to a great deal of discontent, as many of the non-governmental actors present felt marginalized. In a tent at the Civil Society Village established especially for poor, grassroots women at the conference (organized by GROOTS International), the Huairou Commission, a registered non-governmental organization with a global secretariat in Brooklyn, NY, was established to ensure that grassroots women would have a voice at subsequent UN conferences and in other development processes.

In 2005 a website documenting the 1995 Huairou NGO Forum, a temporary town of 30,000 women, was launched. (http://www.womenstown.org) The site aims to be a resources for teaching and learning about gender and the built environment and is coordinated and edited by an international collective of women. "Looking at the built form of that town, and the activities within it, one sees many of the issues women around the globe encounter in their everyday lives."

External links

• Official website of Huairou District