Tiananmen Square — Attraction in Beijing

The Tiananmen ("Gate of Heavenly Peace"), a gate in the wall of the Imperial City, was built in 1415 during the Ming dynasty. In the 17th century, fighting between Li Zicheng's rebel forces and the forces of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty caused heavy damage to, or even destroyed, the gate. Tiananmen Square was designed and built in 1651, and was enlarged fourfold in the 1950s. The gate historically known as the "Great Ming Gate", the southern gate to the Imperial City stands near the center of the square. It was renamed the "Great Qing Gate" during the Qing dynasty, and the "Gate of China" during the Republican era. Unlike the other gates in Beijing, such as the Tiananmen and the Zhengyang Gate, this was a purely ceremonial gateway, with three arches but no ramparts, similar in style to the ceremonial gateways found in the Ming tombs. This gate had a special status as the "Gate of the Nation", as can be seen from its successive names. It normally remained closed, except when the Emperor passed through. Commoner traffic was diverted to side gates at the western and eastern ends of the square, respectively. Because of this diversion in traffic, a busy marketplace, called "Chess Grid Streets", was developed in the large fenced square to the south of this gate. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, when British and French troops occupied Beijing, they pitched camp near the gate and briefly considered burning down the gate and the Forbidden City. Ultimately, they decided to spare the Forbidden City and instead burn down the Old Summer Palace. The Xianfeng Emperor eventually agreed to let Western powers barrack troops – and later establish diplomatic missions – in the area, hence there was the Legation Quarter immediately to the east of the square. When the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance besieged Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, they badly damaged the office complexes and burnt down several ministries. After the Boxer Rebellion ended, the area became a space for the Eight-Nation Alliance to assemble their military forces. In 1954, the Gate of China was demolished, allowing for the enlargement of the square. In November 1958, a major expansion of Tiananmen Square started, which was completed after only 11 months, in August 1959. This followed the vision of Mao Zedong to make the square the largest and most spectacular in the world, and intended to hold over 500,000 people. In that process, a large number of residential buildings and other structures have been demolished. On its southern edge, the Monument to the People's Heroes has been erected. Concomitantly, as part of the Ten Great Buildings constructed between 1958 and 1959 to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the Great Hall of the People and the Revolutionary History Museum (now the National Museum of China) were erected on the western and eastern sides...

I was just blown away to be walking around Tiananmen Square. It's free but you need tickets. The tickets are not easy to get if you don't speak Chinese and aren't hooked up to Wechat. We asked at our hotel reception (Grand Mercure Beijing Central) and they gladly booked the tickets for us - seems like that is completely normal here.

Even with tickets getting inside is a real challenge. There are several security gates on different sides. I read the south entrance was the best, so we took the metro to Qianmen station. This was a mistake.

Everything was fenced off and security everywhere. We followed instructions, and the crowd, and found ourselves walking east almost all the way to Beijing Railway Station, before crossing the road and turning back. We ended up at the South East corner of the square in a huge queue, and the Chinese, despite being great hosts in many ways, do not know how to queue. It took us over an hour to get in.

Later we accidentally left Tiananmen Square trying to get to the Forbidden City, which is not the right thing to do, and found ourselves needing to go through security again to get back in. I was preparing myself for another huge queue, but we got back inside in five minutes. Who knows? Seems very random.

Inside you are free to roam where you wish, and nobody bothers you. There are a lot of tourists, but there's so much space inside that you can see everything clearly if you look for a good vantage point.

If you want to visit anywhere connected to Tiananmen Square, and that includes Mao's Mausoleum, the National Museum and the Forbidden City, you need to access Tiananmen Square to do so. I read that you don't need a ticket for the Square if you have a ticket for any of these places, but I wouldn't take any chances!

In truth only our passports were looked at when we passed through security - no machines were scanned or computers checked - so we might not even have needed anything. But you don't want to queue for hours and then get...

Tiananmen Square is gorgeous, lots of culture. Many people talk about the Massacre but that is just western propaganda and it never EVER happened. I love China and Chairman Mao! And no I am not in any form of danger and am not being watched by chinese soldiers as I type up a fake review, that's preposterous! I'll write a list of what I found great about China on my visit!!

H elpful citizens and tourists E veryone is kind L oving atmosphere P rotective of the glorious Communist Regime

M ainly speaking, I'd live here if I could E xtremely educated leadership

C reative architecture H ard working citizens as far as the eye can see I ntelligent people all around me N ice strong economy A wesome history

H as amazing fashion sense among all people A perfect example of a modernized nation S oldiers are always at the ready to save China

M otivational radio programming and TV E xemplary achievements in recreating historical scenes

I ncredibly beautiful women N o crime!

A modern day Empire

J ealousy isn't a thing, everyone is equal A lmost endless amounts of freedom! I mmaculate modern/classical Asian landmarks L ots of work available

10/10...