TianAnMen

It was my second day in Beijing and early in the morning,we set off to TianAnMen square,the largest of its kind in the world.It was only 8am and already,the crowd was huge.There seemed to be some sort of ceremony going on, since soldiers in their full uniform had gathered on the steps of the RenMingDaHuiTang(Great Hall of the People), which faces the square. The tour guide jokingly told us what an honour that we get to see a full-dressed ceremony,since he himself was seeing it for the first time.Everything looked so grand.

It turned out to be bad.The soldiers started clearing the square when we reached there!What rotten luck! I had to anyhow take a few quick snapshots, which turned out real bad :( What a shame;no chance to pose properly and get a real nice picture. I did take a decent one for my mother.The red flags added life to the otherwise boring square,since everything looked just like a vast cement block! The soldiers were real fierce and when I said please, my mum was already clicking the camera, when he chased me away :( so heartless right?

Right in the center is the Monument to the People's Heroes,a lofty granite obelisk standing 36m high. There is also the Chairman Mao Memorial,in which the embalmed body of the late Chairman Mao is resting.Since it was in April, there was also the count-down time board for the return of HK on July1. I did not see all of the above,except for the count-down thingy,and that's only thanks to Bruce who took me back to the TianAnMen Square a few nights later.

The square serves as the site of grand assemblies on important and festive occasions,like the National Day on 1 Oct, and also recently,the celebration of the retrn of HK on the night of 30th June. Here's a little interesting detail about the square.The whole square is made up of perfect squares of cement,about foot wide. This is clever,since during important occasions like the National Day, it'll be real tough trying to get squads or performers to line up in perfect straight lines,since there are so many people! (It can hold up to 10,000 people I think.) If each person keeps within his/her square,then everyone will align perfectly.

We then made our way to the Forbidden City,which lies just behind the TianAnMen.