The Little Red Blog: Beijing pt. 2: Tiananmen Square and The forbidden City

After our wild night in Sanlitun, Craig and I decided to experience some tourist sites that afternoon in Beijing. Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city was on the first days agenda.

Chicken Hangover Cures

We decided to brave the Chinese subway to get to Tiananmen Square and the forbidden City because we were tired of paying Beijing taxi prices. The taxis in Beijing love to bump up prices for foreigners or just flat out refuse to pick you up because you are foreign. We were glad we did take the subway because we found it incredibly easy and convenient. The Beijing subway is translated in both Chinese and English making it simple to decide what train and stop you need to be at. The Subway is also very clean and modern making it almost impossible to miss your stop unless you just were not paying attention. It is also incredibly cheap! Only 2 RMB (30 cents US) to travel anywhere you want in the city. The subway ended up being the best way to get around Beijing the rest of our trip.

Upon exiting the subway station, my excitement began to grow. There it was, the famous Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City!! It was such surreal feeling when we arrived. We kind of just stopped and stared for a few moments.

For those of you who do not know about Tiananmen Square here is a quick wiki excerpt:

"Tianamnen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world (440,000 m² - 880m by 500m or 109 acres - 960 by 550 yd). It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history."

Tiananmen Square is also infamously known for the Tianamnen square massacre. A pro-democracy rally in 1989 that led to martial law in Beijing and the massacre of several hundred civilians. However, with the Mid-Autumn Festival. A spirit of patriotism, not blood, was in the air here. Families with Chinese flags, communist hats, and bags were all walking around the square. The Square was also decorated quite impressively for the festival with extra flowers and scenic wonders. It was an awesome feeling to be a part of such a grand event and celebration. Of course, my roommate and I had our "when in Rome" moment and also bought China flags and wore our communist hats with pride as we took numerous "pro-communist" photos.

The second stop on our tourist journey was across the street the Forbidden City. The famous imperial palace with Mao's portrait plastered on the front gate. Until the establishment of The People's Republic of China in 1949, the Forbidden City served as the home of emperors and their households during the dynasty eras. It was almost destroyed after the establishment on the PRC, but was decided to be protected and is now still used today as as a ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.

From what I was able to see of the Forbidden City it was also quite impressive. We went up to the top of the front gate. The place where infamous communist party leaders and god-like emperors once overlooked the Chinese people. From the front gate you can see all of Tiananmen square. Inside the top of the gate, there is a small museum dedicated to the PRC government. It was really fascinating to see this because coming from the US you only get to here one side of the history. Here, I was able to see and view first hand how the Chinese people view the PRC and Moa Tse Tung.

We walked around the outer part of the Forbidden City for a while, but we were not able to go into the inner section because it closed at 4:30p :( I will have to go another day to see the rest of it.

After a long, but amazing afternoon, we finally headed home to meet up with our other friends for dinner. My first day of Chinese history and culture was spectacular. I was so excited to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City and it did not disappoint. I was also glad I was able to see it during the festival. Being able to experience their history, with so much patriotism for their country, was a once in a life-time experience.