The sleepy, gated, low-rise compounds in the centre of Huaqiao Xincun were built well before the invasion of cars since the 1990s and are served mainly by a network of narrow, winding roads and alleyways. Up to the early 2010s all the alleyways were publicly accessible to anyone wanting to wander around but in recent years they've been increasingly gated and available to residents only. There are three gateways into the area, but two are usually locked, leaving just one entry point which has regular public access.
The combination of winding, narrow pedestrian-only alleyways with exclusive walled compounds is unusual, evocative more of parts of inner Seoul than a typical Chinese city. In Seoul these types of areas are increasingly being transformed into trendy pedestrian-dominated precincts as shops and businesses move in to the formerly residential-only buildings. Trends are moving mostly in a similar direction in Huaqiao, though at a glacial pace caused mainly by the lack of easily leasable housing stock and limitations on commercial licenses.