Běijīng: Tiān’ānmén Square

Monday. 22nd April, 2013.

 

Tiānānmén Square lies between two ancient, massive gates: the Tian'anmen (Heavenly Peace) to the north and the Zhengyangmen, better known as Qiánmén to the south.

We went in by the Qiánmén gate, although strictly speaking we went in through this small shed.

 

Tiānānmén Square has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.

• 1919:  May Fourth Movement - Student demonstrations which marked the upsurge of Chinese nationalism.
• 1949:  Proclamation of the People’s Republic of China by Mao Zedong.
• 1976:  Protests after the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. 
• 1989:  Tiānānmén Square protests, which resulted in military suppression and the deaths of multiple protestors.

Tiānānmén Square was designed and built in 1651, and has been progressively enlarged to its present size of 880m by 500m.

 

The square “is monitored by closed circuit TV cameras, and plain-clothes police can move faster than the Shànghǎi Maglev if anyone strips down to a Free Tibet T-shirt …… A tangible atmosphere of restraint and authority reigns; in fact, some might say the square symbolises the ‘harmonious’ China of today” (Lonely Planet).

There’s Ahwen with his Gate 1 flag, and Kate and Ken admiring the colourful view.

 

Warmly rugged up members of a red-hatted tour group walk past the Monument to the People's Heroes, a ten-story obelisk erected as a national monument to the martyrs of revolutionary struggle during the 19th and 20th centuries. Construction took place between 1952 and 1958.

 

Pat and the Monument to the People's Heroes.  Pat was concerned that Běijīng’s notorious pollution would aggravate his asthma, so wore a mask while we were there.  While the mask may have succeeded in protecting him from further breathing problems, it certainly succeeded in making him look terribly fearsome.

 

The year after Mao's death in 1976, a Mausoleum was built on the main north-south axis of the square.

 

One of two sculptures outside Mao’s Mausoleum.

 

The Great Hall of the People on the western side of the Square.

 

The bush on the left immediately reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.

 

“Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a RED rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen was to find it out, we should all have our heads cut off, you know.”  (Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland.) Picture from http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/alice2d.html

 

There was also an air of fantasy and absurdity about these five gardeners diligently working on this floral mosaic sculpture.

 

A large screen near the Monument to the People's Heroes showed images of China …..

 

….. or patriotic messages (I presume).

 

“If you get up early you can watch the flag raising ceremony at sunrise, performed by a troop of People’s Liberation Army soldiers drilled to march at precisely 108 paces per minute, 75cm per pace. The soldiers
emerge through the Gate of Heavenly Peace to goosestep impeccably across Chang’an Jie; all traffic is halted. The same ceremony in reverse is performed at sunset.

 

We have now walked the 880 metre length of Tiānānmén Square and are preparing to enter the Gate of Heavenly Peace (the Tiānānmén).