Tiananmen Square

I couldn’t have picked a much better place for my first real trip to experience Beijing. Tiananmen Square is the large central plaza near central Beijing and covers about 100 acres, making it the largest open urban-square in the world.

Many people outside of China know it for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and this famous pic.







It’s named after Tiananmen, “The Gate of Heavenly Peace,” which sits on the north end of the square and separates it from the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City sits behind that gate in the picture below..

My driver drove me over to the area and then most of the way around the square so I could see how big it is. Then, although he didn’t speak English, he motioned to where I would have to go to find the steps under the street to get into the plaza. Very helpful fellow. Because the area is so crowded, there are tunnels that run under the streets to keep pedestrians from walking across. Very smart because a lot of streets in other parts of the city seem to be like a game of Frogger, with people crossing in random spots, stopping and starting, and no cars slowing down for anyone.


The only things actually in the square are the 125-foot high Monument to the People’s Heroes (seen below) and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.

Note that it wasn't raining on this day, but umbrellas are VERY popular among the Chinese women for shade.

As always in China, a military presence..