Starting Out At Tiananmen Square

I'm not sure if our journey in China should start any other way than to watch the sun rise over the legendary and famous Tiananmen Square. This square is the ultimate symbol of modern China! The world's largest public square, Tiananmen Square is a vast desert of paving stones at the heart of Běijīng. It may be a grandiose, Maoist tourist trap, but the view is breathtaking on a clear day and at nightfall. Kites flit through the sky, children stamp around and Chinese out-of-towners huddle together for the obligatory photo opportunity.

Mao conceived the square to project the enormity of the Communist Party, so it's all a bit Kim Il Sung-ish. During the Cultural Revolution the chairman reviewed parades of up to a million people here. In 1976 another million people jammed the square to pay their last respects to Mao. In 1989 army tanks and soldiers forced pro-democracy demonstrators out of the square.

Surrounding the square is a mishmash of monuments, past and present: the Gate of Heavenly Peace, the Museum of Chinese History and Museum of the Chinese Revolution, the Great Hall of the People, the Front Gate, the Chairman Mao Mausoleum, where you can purchase Mao memorabilia and catch a glimpse of the man himself (when his mortuary make-up isn't being refreshed), and the Monument to the People's Heroes. Truly, three decades after his passing, Mao Zedong continues to evoke radically different feelings among the Chinese. Was he the romantic poet-hero who helped the Chinese stand up? Or was he a monster whose wrenching policies caused the deaths of millions of people? Interestingly, the party's official position is that Mao was 70% correct and 30% incorrect. His critics, however, reverse this ratio. In any case, what better way to jump head first into China then to spend the morning at the house that Mao built, Tiananmen Square.