Located at the center of Beijing City is the biggest city square in the world, Tiananmen Square, where you can visit Tiananmen Tower, Monument to the People’s Heroes, Great Hall of the People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and see the national flag raising ceremony. Thousands of people come to the Square every day. It is the must place to visit in Beijing City.

At the north end of the Square is Tiananmen Tower. Initially built in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D.–1644 A.D.), the Square was the front door of the Forbidden City. The most important use of it in the past was to declare in a big ceremony to the common people who became the emperor and who became the empress. Until 1911 when the last feudal kingdom was over, no one could enter the Tower except for the royal family and aristocrats.

 The Granite Monument to the People’s Heroes is just at the center of the Tiananmen Square. Built in 1952, it is the largest monument in China’s history. ” The People’s Heroes are Immortal ” written by Chairman Mao is engraved on the monument. Eight unusually large relief sculptures show to the people the development of Chinese modern history. Two rows of white marble railings enclose the monument, simple and beautiful.

West of the Square is the Great Hall of the People. This building, erected in 1959, is the site of the China National People’s Congress meetings and provides an impressive site for other political and diplomatic activities.Twelve marble posts are infront of the Hall which has three parts–the Central Hall, the Great Auditorium and a Banqueting Hall.

The floor of the Central Hall is paved with marble and crystal lamps hang from the ceiling. The Great Auditorium behind the Central Hall seats 10,000. The Banqueting Hall is a huge hall with 5,000 seats.

Mao Zedong Memorial Hall is at the south side of the Square. This Hall is divided into three halls and our dear Chairman Mao’s body lies in a crystal coffin in one of the halls surrounded by fresh bouquets of various famous flowers and grasses.

 Another important place for the tourist to visit is the China National Museum at the east side of the Square. It just came into existence in 2003 and is a combination of Chinese History Museum and Chinese Revolutionary Museum. This National Museum faces the Great Hall of the People. Inside the Chinese Revolutionary Museum are a lot of material objects, pictures, books and models to present the development of modern China. The Chinese History Museum shows a large number of cultural relics illustrating the long history and glorious culture of China from 1,700,000 years ago to 1921 when the last emperor left the throne.

Five Star Red Flag-the Chinese national flag, flies high in the sky above the Square. To see the guard of honor raise the Flag is a must for the tourist visiting Beijing City. You have to get up very early and arrive at the Square before sunrise. Only by doing so can you see the ceremony clearly as there are crowds of people attending the ceremony every day.

The present Tiananmen Square, covering a length of more than 880 meters and a width of more than 500 meters, has an area of 440,000 square meters and has become a relaxing place for the common people to fly kites and walk. On a holiday, the whole square is covered with fresh flowers.

You can visit the square freely until 10.30pm at night. If you go during the day you can often buy a ticket to go up to the balcony from which the leaders address the people. This gives a very impressive view of the square and you can pretend to be the government figure of your choice.  Every lamp post is equipped with an array of speakers which can convey the speakers message to a crowd in the tens of thousands.

If at all possible, you must go check out the square at night as well as during the day. The atmosphere at night is different again and the square is beautifully lit. On a cold winter night with fog is really something. But don’t arrive too late, at 10.30pm the soldiers come and evacuate the whole thing in minutes and its sealed off for the night.
 
At sunrise and sunset the flag to the front of the square is raised or lowered by a squad of army personnel. This in itself is an interesting thing to watch. All the traffic on the busy Chang An Avenue is halted, around 30 soldiers march very ceremoniously across the road and the flag is hoisted up, or down the poll. Many people come to watch this, so get there an hour or so before if you want a good view. If you want to watch this, you should pay more attention to the information about the exact time for that day and the next day on the Beijing Morning Daily, Beijing Evening Daily and the electric viewing screen at the Tiananmen Tower. At the great festivals, such as the May Day and the National Day, there are so many people there that you can not find a way to watch this. You’d better stay at the Square at night or take a taxi at early morning to go there.
 
The Chinese name of Tiananmen Square is written below. You can use it to ask people directions or follow signs.
 
Ticket Price: RMB15 for the Tiananmen Tower( RMB 5 for stuedents). It opens from 9:00—16:30. You should store you bags before entering the gate and take security check.
 
Transportation: Getting to Tiananmen Square is best done by subway or walking as taxis are not really allowed to stop anywhere near it. There are two subway stations on line 1, Tiananmen East (116) and Tiananmen West (117). They are both inconveniently situated a 5 to 7 minute walk away from the center of the square so there is no best station. Walking from the south entrance to Wangfujing Street takes about 20 minutes and is very pleasant. Just find the Beijing Hotel on Changan Avenue, walk past it and keep going west on Changan Avenue. You can also take No.1, No.4, No,17, No.20, No.52, No.802.
 
Telephone Number:  010—65124970 and 010–65132277