Tiananmen Square

Just south of the Palace Museum and north of Tiananmen Square is the Ming Dynasty rostrum of Tiananmen (gate of Heavenly Peace ). From this vantage point you can scan the golden roofs of the place and the square which is called "the heart of China". Here, Mao Zedong declared the founding of the Peoples's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

During the Ming and Qing eras, the square was enclosed by a red wall. Commoners were permitted entry only to be executed. The wall was destroyed during the 1911 revolution, and the square has quadrupled in size. Now a half-million people can stand there.

While Tiananmen's gate and rostrum preside at the north of the square, the Great Hall of the People sits on its western edge, the Museum of Chinese History and Museum of the Chinese Revolution on the east. AT the south part of the square are the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall and Qianmen Gate.