Tiananmen Square

If you are walking out from the south gate of the Forbidden City, you will have to pass through the Tian an men . The ' men ' simply means door or gate , here in this scene it is the door to the Imperial Palace. Since 1949 , it is Chairman Mao's photo on the gate .

Facing the Tiananmen today, is an area of 440,000 square meters known as the Tiananmen Square . It is now accessible by subways too .

Security was tight . Upon entrance , all baggages and tourists have to be screened .

Tiananmen Square, the building in the background is Chairman Mao's memorium .

I remembered when we were there in 2002 , the local tour leader was so careful that he warned us not to ask any questions about the student movement. Today, the tour leader admitted that they are still cautious but not as restricted to answer questions now.

When I asked why were tourists not brought to visit the Mao Memorium , she answered that firstly it was too time consuming . It was not worthy to line up for an hour before you could enter the memorium , and only spent 3 minutes inside. Besides, she said these days only the older generation respect him much . To the younger generation ,  he was just another leader of the country . Besides, she introduced him as Mao Zhe Dong and not Chairman Mao .

 In this sense , China is different now .

Back to the Tiananmen Square . There were thousands of people there , even on a Friday . It was said that the square was even bigger than the Red Square in Moscow .

Clear evidence of autumn....look at the yellow leaves, nearby the square.

To visit the Tiananmen Square, half an hour would be sufficient unless you are visiting the memorium & the museum .
So, this is Tiananmen Square .