Wenfei Wang, Shangyi Zhou, and Cindy Fan wrote that Niujie has remained to be an ethnic enclave because it continued to be "peripheral to the city’s core area of economic growth" with much of the expansion occurring in north Beijing instead of the portion of Beijing where Niujie resides. In an interview in August 2000 the head of a resident committee in the Madian neighborhood in Haidian District, which historically was a Hui community but faced a decline due to development, stated that even though going to Niujie from Madian meant a lengthy commute, many Madian Hui now preferred to travel there to purchase beef and mutton. Wenfei Wang, Shangyi Zhou, and Cindy Fan wrote that "This is evidence that Niujie’s role as a large enclave and major supplier for the Hui people in Beijing has been enhanced as the ethnic economy of Madian gradually declined."