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Tiananmen Square

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Brief history
Tiananmen Square was once a royal plaza outside the Forbidden City during the feudal imperial era. At that time it was enclosed by walls from east, west and south, and the ordinaries were all prevented from entering.
Tiananmen was originally built in Ming Dyansty, YongLe 1417, it was the frontispiece of the Forbidden City. Previously, its name was not Tiananmen but Chengtianmen that adapt to the meaning of following and obeyed the Heaven. The gate has been destroyed twice and not until 1651 it has been the pattern of today and changed the name to Tiananmen.
During the feudal times, it was the place that issuing rescripts and holding grant ceremonies, such as enthronment of the new emperors and establish empresses. However the last rescripts issued here was the abdication of PuYi in 1911.
For hundreds years, Tiananmen, just as the Chinese ordinaries, has gone through numerous brutal treatments and insults. In 1900, the time of the eight allied forces intruded in Beijing, Tiananmen was once bombed by them and even today there still three unbombed cannons left in the beams western gate. And the famous May 4th Movement also took place here, thousands of students gathered to protest Chinese delegates signifying on the unequal and humiliated "Peace Treaty of Paris". From that time on, it was soon been developed into a national clamjamfry movement. And the later "Nine 9th Movement" and such patriotic movement were all connected to the name of Tiananmen.
The most important event took place in China is in 1949, the year when China has declared its independence. On the day of Oct. 1st, Chairman Mao Zedong has announced the great independence of our nation and abdication the name as The Peoples Republic Of China.

General View
Tiananmen Square is in the center of Beijing City, which said to be the largest square in the world. It is the symbol of the Peoples Republic. Tiananmen Square covers an area of approximately 440,000 square meters with 500 meters in width and 880meters in length. That means it could hold maximum of a million people at one time. Tiananmen Square is surrounded by Tiananmen Tower, Great Hall of People, Monument to the Peoples Heroes, Chairman Mao Memorial Hall and Chinese National Museum. In a large degree, they all could be treated as the compositions of the Tiananmen Square.

Tiananmen Square Today
Previously Tiananmen Square was all along seized by imperial offices. It had been treated as a part of Forbidden City that linked the Temple of Heaven with Qianmen and the palace together. Nowadays Tiananmen Square is a must place to visit if going to Beijing. Tiananmen has completed what it looks like today before the 50th anniversary of China in 1999. It is now a palace for celebration of important festivals as National Day on Oct 1st and International Labor Day on May 1st.

The Tiananmen Tower
The Tiananmen Tower was originally built in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty; it is also a door to Forbidden City. It is a place that announcing the ordinaries in big ceremonies who would become the emperors or empresses.

Great Hall of People
The Great Hall of People is to the west of Tiananmen Square. This place is always be involved with a kind of solemn an ceremonious atmosphere, because it is where the China National People's Congress meetings held and other political and diplomatic activities took place. There are totally twelve pillars in front of it and the whole place could be divided into three parts: the Central Hall, the Great Auditorium and a Banqueting Hall. All of which have been delicate decorated. The floor of the Central Hall is paved with marble and crystal lamps hang from the ceiling. The Great Auditorium behind the Central Hall seats 10,000. The Banqueting Hall is a large hall with 5,000 seats.

Monument to the Peoples Heroes
It is the most obvious construction of Tiananmen Square, right standing in the center. This monument is the biggest in China with The People's Heroes are Immortal written by Chairman Mao engraved on it. To some degree, we could see part of the Chinese history from eight sculptures on it.

Chairman Mao Memorial Hall
In the front center lies the Hall of Chairman Mao Memorial. Our lovely Chairman Maos body has been put in a crystal coffin here.

Chinese National Museum
At the east side Tiananmen Square is the Chinese National Museum that is combination of Chinese History Museum and Chinese Revolutionary Museum. Here we could truly feel the Chinese history development and glorious cultural heritage from a lot of material objects, pictures, books and models.

Rising Flag Ceremony Every Day
Another attractive point of Tiananmen Square is the everyday flag rising. It is a must visiting to see the honorable ceremony in Beijing. One has to get up early and get there before sunrise. Although it sounds like a hard work but it is really worthwhile if you do it once in life.

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