Tian'anmen Square

View of the Gate of Heavenly Peace

View from Qianmen to the imperial city in the early 20th century

The Tian'anmen Square or Place (at the gate) Tiananmen ( Chinese  天安門廣場  /  天安门广场 , Pinyin Tian'anmen Guǎngchǎng ) is a square in central Beijing , capital of China .

expansion

With its 39.6  hectares, it is often referred to as the largest fortified square in the world.

On the north side is the Tian'an Men (天安门), the Gate of Heavenly Peace , behind which the Forbidden City adjoins. The square was not open to the public until 1911. From 1911 it was an important demonstration site with a capacity of up to a million people.

The square is bounded to the west by the Great Hall of the People and to the east by the Chinese National Museum .

After Mao Zedong's death in 1976, a huge mausoleum was built on the southern part of the square , in which the preserved body of Mao has been exhibited ever since.

Buildings

photos		Surname	Sign / pinyin	Remarks
		Gate of Heavenly Peace	天安门 Tiān'ān Mén	Main entrance to the Forbidden City, the Imperial Palace
		Great Hall of the People	人民大会堂 Rénmín Dàhuìtáng	Parliament building, reception place for state guests and venue for national celebrations
		Chinese National Museum	中国 国家 博物馆 Zhōngguó Guójiā Bówùguǎn	Originally two separate museums: Museum of Chinese History and Museum of Chinese Revolution
		Monument to the People's Heroes	人民 英雄 纪念碑 Rénmín Yīngxíong Jĭnìanbēi	The monument was built in memory of the people who died in the revolutionary struggles of the 19th and 20th centuries.
		Memorial Hall for Chairman Mao	毛主席 纪念堂 Máo Zhǔxí Jìniàntáng	The memorial hall serves as Mao Zedong's mausoleum, where his body is laid out.
		Zhengyangmen	正阳门 / 前门 Zhèngyáng Mén / Qián Mén	as the main gate of the inner city, larger and more magnificent than other city gates

Events

180 ° panorama

Play media file

Tiananmen Gate and Tian'anmen Square

• May 4, 1919: May Fourth Movement . China was the Treaty of Versailles , the sovereignty over the former German lease areas in the province of Shandong not return. Rather, the region was placed under a Japanese protectorate. Against this, over 3,000 students demonstrated in Tian'anmen Square.
• April 4, 1976: The Tian'anmen Incident . One day before the Chinese memorial day , the population had brought wreaths and flowers to Tian'anmen Square in honor of the popular, recently deceased Prime Minister Zhou Enlai . Due to internal party disputes, the wreaths and flowers that had been deposited were removed by security forces during the night, against which thousands protested the following day. This peaceful demonstration was violently broken up by the police and the military .
• June 4, 1989: The Tian'anmen massacre was the bloody endpoint of months of protests by the Chinese democracy movement on Tian'anmen Square, which, according to estimates, killed between 300 and 3,000 people (Red Cross: 2,700), but not in Tian'anmen Square.
• January 23, 2001: The self-immolation incident in Tian'anmen Square occurred the day before the Chinese New Year celebrations. According to the Chinese government, five Falun Gong practitioners reportedly set themselves on fire. However, Western journalists and scholars found that there was inconsistency in the government's reports, suggesting that the government staged the self-immolations to discredit Falun Gong.
• August 17, 2008: As part of the 2008 Summer Olympics , the women's marathon was started on the square .
• August 24, 2008: The start of the men's marathon was on the pitch.

Web links

Commons : Tian'anmen Square  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Tiananmen Square and Surroundings (Inside Beijing)
• Tiananmen Square in Beijing: Tiananmen Square
• Police presence on Tian'anmen anniversary

Coordinates: 39 ° 54 ′ 15.2 "  N , 116 ° 23 ′ 29.7"  E