Wenfei Wang, Shangyi Zhou, and Cindy Fan wrote that Niujie served in a wider ethnic Hui economy across Beijing as well as providing a local ethnic enclave economy in the period from the Ming Dynasty until 1949. In the pre-1949 period 75% of the jade trade enterprises in the city were located in Niujie. Wenfei Wang, Shangyi Zhou, and Cindy Fan wrote that in this period a central component of Niujie was the food service sector, which consisted of beef and button stands, Hui food wagons and stands, and Hui restaurants. They stated that residents of Niujie "gained a reputation for operating meat delicatessens in other parts of Beijing." Niujie was also adjacent to a major vegetable market, "Caishikou".