Beijing (d4) Tiananmen Square

Front Gate to Tiananmen Square. You can see Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall through the opening.


Monument to People's Heroes


People gathering chanting patriotic slogans to support and encourage the earthquake relief efforts.


Gate of Heavenly Peace and the entrance into the Forbidden City.

Today was suppose to be an easy day, no agenda, nothing to have to get done. Yet, it was an exhausting day. We're still recovering from the Great Wall excursion yesterday. All we really wanted to do was explore the subway system which was fairly straight-forward. We ended up riding it to Tiananmen Square, just 2 stops away from the Beijing Train Station. The country is commemorating those who lost lives in the Wenchuan earthquake by having a 3-minute silence at 2:28pm (one week to the minute of when the earthquake set off) and closing down all forms of entertainment for 3 days (no theater, no movies, no celebration, etc, and suspension of the Olympic torch relay). A group of young students passed out little white flowers. We decided to head to Tiananmen Square to see the activities, but missed it by a few minutes. The entire country is in solidarity to support and encourage those affected. It was quite amazing to see.

Tiananmen Square is a huge expanse of open space... very impressive. There were people everywhere! We will head back in the next few days and see the Forbidden City near by.

All this walking has made my feet very sore even with good hiking shoes. I'm putting my feet up for the rest of the night and get to bed early. Tomorrow is the Hutong Tour where we'll be riding in rickshaws and drinking teas in some one's courtyard house.