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Kathryn
Kathryn
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Editor Pick

Tiananmen Square

  • October 17, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by EsslingerBrian from Sydney, Australia
Tiananmen Square

Perhaps best known throughout the Western world for the demonstrations and protests that occurred in June of 1989, Tiananmen Square is a giant plaza home to many of Beijing’s attractions. Officially the largest city square in the world, attractions such as the Mao Mausoleum, the Gate of Heavenly Peace, the Great Hall of the People, and the Monument to the People’s Heroes are all located on or around Tiananmen Square.

Tiananmen Square was the site of the June Fourth Incident in 1989, when the People’s Liberation Army of the communist controlled government put a violent end to the pro-democracy protests of students, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of students and soldiers. The image of an unknown man (who became known as The Unknown Rebel) standing courageously in front of a line of four approaching Chinese tanks has become widely associated with this incident, and was one of the most influential pictures of the 20th century. Knowledge of this incident within China is virtually unknown, with the Chinese government blocking the transmittance of any information regarding this incident.

The Gate of Heavenly Peace, located on the northern edge of Tiananmen Square, is the reason the square is named as such, as "Tiananmen" literally means "Gate of Heavenly Peace". It was originally constructed in 1420, but has since undergone many renovations leading to its present state. Because it was the front entrance to the Imperial City, it has many feelings of nationalism associated with it, and is the centre point in national emblem of the People’s Republic of China. In order to enter the Imperial City and further on to the Forbidden City, one must pass under the gate as the giant portrait of Mao Zedong watches over. Beware, however, that it is free to pass through the gate and onto the entrance of the Forbidden City at the Meridian Gate. You can pay ¥15 (about US$2) to go up in the gate, but I felt that I’d rather spend my ¥15 on another skewer of scorpions at the Wangfujing Night Market, and instead admire the architecture from the outside for free.

Located directly on Tiananmen Square, the Monument to the People’s Heroes can be seen towering 38 metres above the square. Since China has had a long and tumultuous revolutionary history, the monument was built in 1949 to commemorate the lives of those people who gave their lives for China in eight different revolutionary events between 1840 and 1949.

Perhaps one of the most unique attractions on Tiananmen Square is the Mao Mausoleum located at the southern end of the square. As Mao Zedong was responsible for establishing the People’s Republic of China and making it what it is today, it was decided that he would follow in the footsteps of many other revolutionary Communist leaders (such as Lenin and Ho Chi Minh) and have his body embalmed and put on display for generations to come, despite Mao’s personal wishes to be cremated. Therefore, over 30 years after his death, people can still pay homage to the legacy of Mao and see his body. Although many are in disagreement as to whether the body on display is actually Mao or just a wax replica, the mausoleum serves as a reminder of his impact on China. Entry to the mausoleum is free, but as a result of all the people wishing to see Mao’s body, every person’s visit is extremely short. Visitors are ushered through in a single file line at a relatively quick pace, giving each person only about 15 seconds to actually view Mao’s body from behind a couple panes of glass. It is a constantly moving line, so it is difficult to stop and appreciate. No cameras, bags, or any other belongings are allowed in, so beware of what you take with you when visiting the mausoleum. It is only open between 8am and 12pm every day except Monday. I highly recommend visiting the Mao Mausoleum as it is definitely a unique experience, not to be had in the western world (apart from in Russia).

Essential to any visit to Beijing, Tiananmen Square is best visited during the day to fully appreciate the grandness of this location. During nightfall, the square is heavily patrolled by guards, and is not well lit up. Apart from the Gate of Heavenly Peace being lit up, there is relatively little to see at Tiananmen Square after dark.

From journal A Beijing Winter with Scorpions and Crickets on my Breath

Editor Pick

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square



It was built to be the largest public Square in the World. It was built in the 1950's in an area where nothing stood, but soon became a Communist icon. During the Cultural Revolution Red Guards would gather here to chant Mao's name. It stands across the street from the Forbidden City, and lays at the feet at the Gates of Heavenly Peace where scholars would at one time gather to await edicts passed down by the Emperor, but most recently where Chairman Mao stood and declared "China Stands".His picture still hangs here today. On the ride to Tian'anmen it was easy to see what was on all sixty of my fellow traveler's minds: communism and massacres. We were accompanied by five students from a local university. After a few very quiet minutes someone finally broke the tension and asked about the Tian'men Square Massacre. They looked back at us blank faced. We told them about the protesters, the tanks, and the hundreds of death. The students looked at each other, consulted each other in Chinese, and finally asked us what we were talking about. We explained further. Finally one asked "Do you mean Kent State?" Now it was our turn to be confused. Again we explained about the three month stand off. One of the Chinese students took out a English history book and passed it around. Some of the students read passages out loud about Kent State, the massacre that took place, and how this is a common occurrence in the US. We were all very confused when our bus stopped.
I can't say what I expected when I arrived. Maybe I was waiting to see the Red Guard and tanks, but all I saw was concert. Guards dressed in green paraded through the area with small children running past them. At one side of the square stood the Notational Museum of China, at another was the Great Hall of People. In the center of the square stood a monument to the People's Hero's. A large granite and marble column that honored those who died in the revolution. At the south end of the square is the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall with a giant statue outside is a statue of several people known as the Revolutionary Statue. On the stairs on one of the halls the giant countdown Clock for the Olympic Games was installed just the day before, four years before the games would even make it to China, but the time frame didn't stop people who were already hawking Olympic shirts on the streets.
Our tour guide drew us close in a very quiet voice warned us not to speak of the massacre. He told us that here no one is what they seem; many of the Chinese tourists are actually undercover cops. He told us how he was there the day of the massacre and that he escaped with his life, but would say no more. In China very few know the truth of what happened, and the official stance of the government was that it was an uprising that had to be put down to save the Chinese people. I looked at my friend and we walked silently away. What was there to say. We had just seen a side of China that we never knew. A side that was not expect, but at the same time wasn't surprising to find.

From journal My Cultural Revolution

Editor Pick

Tienanmen Square

  • February 29, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by SeenThat from Tel Aviv, Israel
Tienanmen Square

Tiananmen Square is the large plaza named after the gate at its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. The square includes several important structures, among them the Great Hall of the People (or National Legislature), the National Museum of China, the Monument to the People's Heroes and the Mao Zedong Mausoleum.

It has great cultural significance as a symbol because it was the site of several key events in Chinese history, the most important among them being the 1989 violent protests when at least hundreds of unarmed democracy-activists were massacred by the People's Liberation Army on the orders of Deng Xiaoping.

Name

Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng means the Heavenly Peace Gate and is the southern gate of the Purple Forbidden City; it gave the name to the square south of it.

Between Two Gates

The modern version of the square lies between two gates: the Tiananmen to the north – separating the square from the Purple Forbidden City - and the Zhengyangmen, or Qianmen (Front Gate), to the south. The square is 880 meters north to south and 500 meters east to west, making it the largest square in the world. Chang'an Avenue separates the Tiananmen Gate from the Square and is a popular site for military parades.

Security

Even when compared with other locations in China, Tiananmen Square is a heavily guarded site with uniformed and plainclothes policemen watching closely over the place. A favorite tactic of them is a type of entrapment in which undercover agents approach innocent visitors and make all kind of illegal propositions. Ignoring them is the best tactic.

History

The square was built in parallel to the Purple Forbidden City, from 1417 onwards; in 1699 it was renovated and got its modern shape and name. During most of the Qing Dinasty, the area was filled with government ministries; however, those where heavily damaged during the Boxer Rebellion. Afterwards, the area became the modern Tiananmen Square.

Several events of recent history were centered on the square. In 1919, the May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement that marked the upsurge of Chinese nationalism; it grew out of dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Versailles settlement, known here as the Shandong Problem. The birth of the Communist Party of China is usually linked to this event. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was proclaimed here by Mao Zedong. During the Cultural Revolution it was the site of mass rallies and it is the common site of military parades commemorating National Days.

On April 5, 1976, the Tiananmen Incident took place here. It was a protest against the repression of the Chinese regime nearing the end of the Cultural Revolution and followed the death of Zhou Enlai.

On 1989, took part protests led by labor activists, students, and intellectuals protesting against the Communist Party corruption from April 15 until June 4. The brutal military crackdown caused at least 200 deaths (official PRC government), but probably closer to 3000 (official figure of the Chinese student associations and Chinese Red Cross) on the square itself and an unknown number of death in subsequent purges lead by the party.

On January 23, 2001 seven people attempted to set themselves on fire on the eve of the Chinese New Year. The Chinese authorities claimed they were Falun Gong followers, despite the cult forbidding such actions.

Mao Zedong Mausoleum

Roughly at the square’s center is the Mao Zedong Mausoleum, a huge building displaying Mao Zedong mummified body. A long line of people usually waits at its entrance; guards check up belongings for hidden – and forbidden – cameras.

The small body is kept behind a transparent glass wall and within a heavily heated hall. Interestingly, Ho Chi Minh’s body in Hanoi is kept in a similar – but heavily refrigerated - hall.

The modern cement box sits atop what once was the Great Ming Gate – or the Gate of China – a ceremonial gate, which was closed unless the emperor used it for official ceremonies. During the 1950’s, the gate was demolished – together with the Chessgrid Streets – and the square acquired its actual dimensions.

Monument to the People's Heroes

The Monument to the People's Heroes is a ten-story obelisk north of Mao Zedong's mausoleum on the southern edge of the square. It was erected as a national monument in memory of the martyrs who laid down their lives for the revolutionary struggle of the Chinese people during the 19th and 20th centuries. On its base are eight huge white marble bas-relieves covering different revolutionary episodes, from the First Opium War in 1840 to the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.

Great Hall of the People

At the western edge of Tiananmen Square is the Great Hall of the People. It is China’s parliament, and it used also for ceremonial government and party activities. It was built in 1959 as one of the "Ten Great Constructions" designed to celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of the People's Republic.

National Museum of China

The National Museum of China is on the eastern edge of Tiananmen Square. It was formed in 2003 out of two separate museums that had already occupied the building, the Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the National Museum of Chinese History. The structure was another one of the "Ten Great Constructions" designed to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic.

The Museum of Chinese History covers Chinese history from the prehistoric Yuanmou Man to the end of the Qing Dynasty - the last imperial dynasty and is divided into three collections: Primitive Society (until 4000BC), the Slavery Society (2100 - 475 BC), and the Feudal Society (475 BCE - 1911).

The Old Democratic Revolution (1840-1911), the New Democratic Revolution (1911-1949) (including the History of the Republic of China), and the "Triumph of the Revolution and the Establishment of Socialism" covering the events since 1949, are displayed at The Museum of the Chinese Revolution.

From journal Big Capital, Small Pleasures

Editor Pick

Tian’anmen Square

  • November 16, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Mutt from Ankara, Turkey
Tian’anmen Square

Indelibly seared into the minds of the world by the events of 1989, this mighty square has reaffirmed its position as the spiritual heart of New China.

The iconic image of a benign looking Chairman Mao gazes over the square from its head at Tian’anmen, the great gate to the Forbidden City, after which it's named. The gate once looked out over imperial ministries but these were razed in the Boxer Rebellion (1899-01 CE) leaving this public square. It immediately became a magnet for protesters and on May 4th 1919 over 3,000 students gathered here to oppose government appeasement of foreign imperialists. They were brutally suppressed with one student killed. The resulting May Fourth Movement contributed to the birth of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that later swept to power.

It was here on October 1st 1949 that Mao issued the proclamation of the People's Republic of China. The enlargement of the square that followed swept away the symbolic Gate of China and at 440,000m2 created the largest public square in the world as showground for the annual National Day rallies. In the center stands the 38m high great granite Monument to the People's Heroes inscribed with Mao’s message "Eternal glory to the people's heroes!" and featuring reliefs of the struggle from the burning of the opium in 1839 to the PLA’s crossing of the Yangtze River in 1949. The tenth anniversary in 1959 saw that construction of the twin flanking buildings of the Great Hall of the People and the National Museum.

Further popular gatherings followed the death of the ever-popular Premiere Zhou Enlai (1898-1976). On April 5th 1976 the reviled Gang of Four, defacto rulers of the country, brutally dispersed the mourners leaving thousands dead or injured. Mao’s own death later that year and the subsequent arrest of the four went someway to appeasing the masses who new leader Hua Guofeng put to work constructing the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall as an obvious distraction. The resulting monolithic grey block was plumped down at the foot of the square destroying any magnificence (not to mention feng shui) it may once have possessed.

The square achieved international infamy when tanks rolled in to crush the Student Protests of 1989 with thousands killed and injured in the streets west of here as they fled. Practitioners of the outlawed Falun Gong also stage demos here including the self-immolations of 2001. The square is therefore under rigid security with numerous police, PLA troops and undercover agents patrolling and CCTV in abundance. Although none of this is targeted at the tourists it does none-the-less create something of an oppressive atmosphere that is only intensified by the great cloud of smog that permanently hangs overhead.

The square, due to its size and central location, is quite literally unmissable but with little to actually see even on the rare occasion the smog clears and a general feeling of unease there is little reason to hang around.

From journal Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square: The Bleeding Heart of China

Editor Pick

Tiananmen Square

  • September 8, 2007
  • Rated 3 of 5 by phileasfogg from New Delhi, India
Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen –Gate of Heavenly Peace – is an inappropriate name for such a blood-soaked area. When I was drawing up our Beijing itinerary, I thought: not Tiananmen. Memories of the cold-blooded way in which protestors were massacred in 1989 were still vivid enough to make me regard Tiananmen with dread.

Despite a resolve to not go to Tiananmen, we ended up visiting this vast central square – simply because it’s the heart of Beijing. In a city swamped by symbols of private enterprise, the forbidding expanse of Tiananmen Square, hemmed in by blocky Maoist monuments, is a very visible emblem of Communist rule. But private enterprise, from kite sellers and hawkers to McDonald’s, is alive and kicking all along the fringes of the square. Tourist buses bound for Badaling begin from the corner of Tiananmen, and crowds visiting the Forbidden City approach through the Tiananmen Gate. So we went to Tiananmen too, and walked from one end to the other.

The facts about it are pretty basic. One of the world’s largest city squares, Tiananmen spreads across 440,000 square metres and was laid out in 1417, during the Ming period. It was renovated in 1699, when it acquired its present form.

We began at the south end of Tiananmen. This end’s dominated by two gates of grey stone, decorated with glazed tile eaves and paintwork. The Qianmen Gate and the Zhengyanmen Gate are imposing, and even in the blazing afternoon sun, two soldiers stood ramrod straight and unblinking in the middle of the broad stretch that separates Zhengyanmen from the Mao Memorial. The only time I saw them relax was when a peon with a squat aluminium kettle brought them some tea.

The Mao Memorial, the leader’s mausoleum, occupies a large portion of Tiananmen. After Mao’s death in 1976, his body was embalmed and placed in a subzero vault at the mausoleum. The body’s mechanically raised for public viewing every morning. When we visited, the Memorial was closed for renovations, so we spent some time looking at the group statues outside – depicting the Long March – and then moved on.

North of the Memorial stands a square-sided stone pillar, the Monument to the People’s Heroes. Chinese characters in dull brass march down one side, and lotuses bloom in flowerpots round the base. In the backdrop, stretching from north to south down either side of Tiananmen Square, are staunchly Communist buildings: the Great Hall of the People on the left, and on the right, the National Museum of Chinese History and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution. Both museums were closed for renovation, so, somewhat disappointed, we walked on to the northern end of Tiananmen Square. The red gate here – a familiar sight in photographs of Beijing and the Forbidden City – is the Tiananmen Gate. Large Chinese characters are emblazoned across the facade, and the centre holds a picture of Mao. A long way beyond lies the Forbidden City.

Final analysis? Not beautiful; somewhat unsettling; but worth a visit, if only for its history.

From journal Beijing: The Usual Suspects

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