CHINA 03: BEIJING-TIANANMEN SQUARE


May 25 Continued

After lunch at a restaurant near the Summer Palace, we proceeded to Tiananmen (Heavenly Peace) Square.

We pass by Qianman Gatehouse to enter the Tiananmen Square. Before the city wall was demolished, the gate guarded entry into the inner city.

Notorious for the June 1989 massacre of many (3,000 according to one estimate) student and intellectual protesters, Tiananmen Square is reputed to be world’s largest public square.

The square is bounded by the Great Hall of the People (Parliament House) on the west, the National Museum (closed for renovations on the east).

















Also the square features the 125-ft granite Monument to the People’s Heroes, and





















Mao Zedong’s Mausoleum.

I was amused by the fact that there was hardly anyone at the Mausoleum, where in 1982 there were always long lines of people to get in.

Located on the square’s north is its most prominent feature, the Tiananmen Gate, or the Gate of Heavenly Peace.

A large portrait of Mao Zedong adorns the red stone wall of the Gate.

Next to the wall is an ornamental marble column and stone lions.

With temperature at 102 degrees Fahrenheit, the heat was really unbearable. Being there was made more difficult by the absence of trees (or shelters) for shade and benches to sit down and rest.

Still there were hundreds of people in the square.

Some photographed their friends, and family members, but particularly children.

Others sat down by the wall to have something to eat, enjoy ice cream, or just to rest their weary feet.

For a 360-degree virtual tour of the Tiananmen Square visit the site below: http://www.thebeijingguide.com/tiananmen_square/index.html