Beijing, China
5 November 2014
1. Monument to People’s Heroes
Located at the center of the Tiananmen Square is the granite Monument to the People’s Heroes, the largest monument in China built in 1952. This is to commemorate the heroes that founded the People’s Republic of China.
Engraved on the monument are the words, “The People’s Heroes are Imortal” written by Chairman Mao Tse-tung. The monument has eight large sculptures that showed the development of Chinese modern history.
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2.The Great Hall of the People
Standing west of the square is the Great Hall of the People built in 1959. This is the site of the China National People’s Congress meetings and other political and diplomatic activities.
The façade of the building is made of twelve marble posts and the hall has three parts: the Central Hall, the Great Auditorium, and a Banqueting Hall. The Great Auditorium has 10,000 seating capacity while the Banqueting Hall has 5,000 seats.
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3. The National Museum of China
Facing the Tiananmen Square at the east side is the National Museum of China. Built in 2003, the museum houses the Chinese History Museum and Chinese Revolutionary Museum.
The Chinese History Museum showcases a large number of cultural relics since 1,700,000 years ago to 1921 when the last emperor left the throne. While, the Chinese Revolutionary Museum displays a wide array of objects, pictures, books, and models that represent today’s modern China.
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4. Tiananmen Square
Built in 1471 during the Ming Dynasty, the Tiananmen Square served an important role in the feudal kingdom as this is where the next emperor and empress are proclaimed to the people. It was closed in 1911 when the feudal kingdom ended.
Since the People’s Republic of China was established in October 1, 1949 led by Chairman Mao Zedong, The Tiananmen Square serves as the venue for the flag-raising and welcoming ceremony of different visiting head of states. Chairman Mao also took residence near the Tiananmen Square.
The Square also hides a dark past when pro-democracy led by thousands, mostly students, seized the square and staged a peace revolt in Tiananmen Square. It has been referred to by the international community as “The Massacre in Tiananmen Square” when on June 6, 1989, the military once again seized control of the square thereby killing thousand students.
Today, the Tiananmen Square is closely being monitored by the Chinese government with soldiers roaming the area, not even TV cameras are allowed to enter the square.
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5. Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao
Fronting the Tiananmen Square in the south is the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao. The hall is divided in three parts and in it lays the remains of the Chairman Mao Tse-tung in crystal coffin surrounded by fresh flowers and grasses. He is the founding father of the People’s Republic of China.
Chairman Mao Zedong (Tse-tung) led the communist revolt that trampled the imperial government and united China, ending the decades of civil war, into what is today’s People’s Republic of China. He is also known to have improved the status of women in China and for improving literacy and education.
In his 27 year reign as head of the People’s Republic of China, he gained international prominence and notoriety when he launched the “Great Leap Forward” and “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”.
The Great leap forward served as an alternative model for economic growth through heavy industrialization. This forced small agricultural group to work in the larger people’s commune under collective ownerships. The policy also banned private food production and forces people to work in infrastructure projects and the production of iron and steel.
While the “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”, served as Mao’s policy to put the country in a state of ‘perpetual revolution’ by unseating the ‘ruling class’ and forcing the elite to work in the farm and taught by peasants to re-education them.
With the visit of US President Richard Nixon in 1972, it signalled a policy of opening China, which was furthered under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping.
Chairman Mao Zedong died at 00:10 on September 9, 1976 at the age of 82 due to two major heart attacks.
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