Tian'anmen Square

Tian’anmen Square was named after the Tian’anmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. In addition to being one of the largest city squares in the world, it has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history. Used as a massive meeting place since its creation, its flatness is contrasted by the 125ft high Monument to the People's Heroes, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. In recent memory, it is best known as the focal point of the Tian’anmen Square student protests of 1989, a pro-democracy movement which ended with the declaration of martial law in Beijing by the government, resulting in the death of hundreds of protesters. On the night of June 3 and the early morning hours of June 4, 1989 soldiers opened fire on Chinese protesters in the streets to the west of the square and adjacent areas. Today the Square is lit with large lampposts fitted with video cameras, being heavily monitored by uniformed and undercover policemen (Wikipedia.com).

While we were there today, a man handing out some kind of pamphlets on the square was dragged away by police officers. (I guess that happens regularly here?) One of our BYU-Idaho professors caught the incidence on his camera, but was forced to erase it by other policemen monitoring the scene.