Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
with the familiar red star embedded in a galaxy of ceiling lights. The ticket office is down
the south side of the building.
Monument to the People's Heroes
人民英雄纪念碑
人民英雄纪念碑
Right in the centre of the square, this monument was completed in 1958. The 37.9m-high
granite obelisk bears bas-relief carvings of key patriotic and revolutionary events, as well
as calligraphy from communist bigwigs Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. Mao's eight-charac-
ter flourish proclaims 'Eternal Glory to the People's Heroes'. At night, the monument is
illuminated.
Understand
Tiananmen & Modern China
It's no exaggeration to say that modern China was born in Tiananmen Square. On 4 May 1919, students from
Peking University and other colleges demonstrated in the square, decrying China's weakness in the face of the old
colonial powers and calling for a stronger, less corrupt government. Those protests sparked nationwide demon-
strations and are credited with boosting nationalist sentiment. The protests politicised many young Chinese who
would go on to take sides in the Communist versus Nationalists civil war that dragged on until the Communist
victory in 1949.
1989 Pro-democracy Protests
On the 70th anniversary of the 4 May 1919 protests Tiananmen Square was once more occupied by students from
Peking University and other colleges. The 1989 protests, though, did not end happily. On 4 June, the pro-demo-
cracy demonstrators who had occupied Tiananmen Square for months were driven out by the Chinese army.
While most of the students escaped unhurt, many of the ordinary Beijingers who gathered a kilometre or so away
from the square to hold up the army's advance were less lucky. Estimates of the numbers killed run into the hun-
dreds.
The Heart of China
In the West, Tiananmen is associated strongly with the 1989 protests, but in China it is a different story. Although
many Chinese remember or know about what happened in June 1989, for most people Tiananmen represents the
supremacy of the Communist Party. That is just what Mao intended, when he ordered its expansion after he pro-
claimed the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from atop the Gate of Heavenly Peace in October
1949.
