BEIJING: Tiananmen Sq

Tiananmen Square. This is a big public square. Famous for many reasons. 

We went on a hazy hazy day. 

The square is surrounded by museums

monuments to revolution heros

and Mao's Mausoleum. We didn't stand in line for hours to see his embalmed self, but we could have. My parents saw Lenin and that is enough for me. 

No taking pictures of the soldiers! 

This is the gate which leads to the Forbidden City. This is where Chairman Mao stood to declare the new Republic of China back in 1949 and then he hung his huge portrait. 

I find China's history so so fascinating: 

The Peking Man, Genghis Khan, Marco Polo, dynasties, dynasties, dynasties, Ming Dynasty, Empress Cixi, Qing Dynasty, Warlords, Mao and his insane Cultural Revolution and now modern China. 

 

The red slogan says "Long Live the People's Republic of China." 

It was so interesting to see Ancient China right next to Modern China. And to see Communism mixed in with Capitalism. I kept thinking "China doesn't seem that different...everything is normal..." and then it was like something would hit me on the side of my face as a reminder - the one child policy, the powdered milk crisis, the random bag checks, carry your id card at all times, the different versions of history presented. In Beijing they call it the "Tiananmen incident" the rest of the world calls it the "Tiananmen massacre." We couldn't access facebook or certain pages of wikipedia because of the great firewall of China. Things like that.  

But then again at the end of the day everyone we met was just trying to have a good job and provide for their families. Get some sleep with a new baby in the house or save up for the new iphone. People are people,

"even in China," says Dave.