Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
PRACTICALITIES
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Tian'anmen West, Tian'anmen East or Qianmen
History
Tiān'ānmén Sq as we see it today is a modern creation and there is precious little sense of
history. During Ming and Qing times part of the Imperial City Wall (Huáng Chéng) called
the Thousand Foot Corridor (Qiānbù Láng) poked deep into the space today occupied by
the square, enclosing a section of the imperial domain. The wall took a 'T' shape, emer-
ging from the two huge, now absent, gates that rose up south of the Gate of Heavenly
to the vanished Dàmíng Gate (Dàmíng Mén). Called Dàqīng Gate during the Qing dyn-
asty and Zhōnghuá Gate during the Republic, the Dàmíng Gate had three watchtowers and
upturned eaves and was guarded by a pair of stone lions. It was pulled down after 1949, a
fate similarly reserved for Cháng'ān Zuǒ Gate and Cháng'ān Yòu Gate. East and west of
the Thousand Foot Corridor stood official departments and temples, including the Min-
istry of Rites, the Ministry of Revenue, Honglu Temple and Taichang Temple.
Mao Zedong conceived the square to project the enormity of the Communist Party.
During the Cultural Revolution, the chairman, wearing a Red Guard armband, reviewed
parades of up to a million people here. The 'Tiān'ānmén Incident' is the term given to the
near riot in the square that accompanied the death of Premier Zhou Enlai in 1976. Another
million people jammed the square to pay their last respects to Mao in September that year.
Layout
lends its name to the square - lies at the northern end, on the other side of the main road.
Sitting innocuously in the middle of the square, is the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (
CLICK HERE
), which thousands of domestic tourists visit each morning.
In the square, one stands in the symbolic centre of the Chinese universe. The rectangu-
lar arrangement, flanked by halls to both east and west, to some extent echoes the layout
