Our First "Tian'anmen Square" and "Forbidden City" Trip 2011

Well it is Spring Festival time...Happy Chinese New Year everyone...and I am off work for 10 days! We have decided to take this time to get on the subway and go to Tian'anmen Square and check it out! the weather has been really cold but today seems to be very sunny and not too frigid so we will give it a try. At least the subway is right out our gate and across the street so we won't have to spend too much time in the cold before we get to Tian'anmen.

 Well once we made it to tian'anmen we realized that because it was Chinese New Year/Spring Festival everything was either closed or had only been open for a couple hours. We had to satisfy our curiosity by walking around and looking at all of the people and the buildings.

We managed to get there in time to see a changing of the guard which was really neat. I am glad we are here when we are because Nicole said that when she was here they were not allowed to take pictures of the policemen...that they got really upset when she did. Maybe that is still the case, and we will need to be careful but the guy in the front definitely loved having his picture taken!

In the middle of the place are 2 HUGE screens that were showing different New Years events that were going on...lots of singing and dancing!

I was lucky enough to get a shot of one of the guards as he paused and made a turn before heading back the other way...I thought the flags behind him added a little something extra to the picture. I think he may have even paused a few extra seconds so I could get a good picture!


Jacob videotaping at Tian'anmen Square and over his shoulder in the background is the China National Museum



Jacob video taping Great Hall of the People

Jacob did a lot of videotaping and is working on putting everything together so you can see the video on line. In the 1st picture he is videotaping the Forbidden City...which was closed...and what you see over his shoulder is China's National Museum which was built in 1959, and was the home to the Museum of Chinese History and the Museum of the Revolution...until they merged as of 2010. In the 2nd picture he is filming the Great Hall of the People which is the Seat of the Chinese legislature. The vast auditorium and banquet halls are open for part of the day except when the National People's Congress is in session.

Next we looked at the Monument to the People's Heroes which was erected in 1958. It is a granite monument that is decorated with episodes from China's revolutionary history and calligraphy from Communist veterans Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.



Bob and Jake in front of Mao's Mausoleum

We then went around back of the tower to look at Mao's Mausoleum...which had just closed...so we had to look from the outside only. Mao's Masoleum is flanked by revolutionary statues and the building contains the embalmed body of Chairman Mao. His casket...which is raised from its refrigerated chambers, is on view mornings and afternoons. It is definitely on our list of things to see! 

We then walked around the side and to the back to check out Zhengyang Men which is one of the towers that forms a double gate known as Qian Men. It now houses a museum on the history of Beijing.


It was while we were on our way to see these double gates that we realized we had lost Jacob part way there. When we turned around we had to laugh because there was a man and his son posing with  Jacob for pictures. He draws a lot of attention with his light colored eyes and light colored hair and apparently this father was brave enough to ask Jacob to pose with him and his son for a picture. Maybe this could be a side job for us while we are in China...taking Jacob to famous public places and charging people to have their picture taken with him...just kidding!

We then passed through the 1st gate and headed towards the second gate called The Arrow Tower...or.... Jian Lou. This was when we realized that there was some sort of a festival going on on the other side of the road through the Arrow Tower. We, of course, buttoned up our coats and headed that way!

Standing inside Zhengyang Men looking across the street at Jian Lou

We then passed through  Jian Lou and headed to the festival. It was so colorful and was decorated with lots of red...the Chinese color for good luck...and had lots of people walking around.

The people were fascinating to watch and we saw an adorable set of twins. Grandpa was holding one and trying to get him to smile over the flowers at mom and dad.

Grandma was holding the other one and I took his picture too! They were sooooooo cute!

We went a little farther up the street and saw another little boy playing at a table while people walked by snapping his picture as well!

But it is not just the young drawing attention! We came across a woman pushing...then pulling her relative in a very festive looking wheelchair and I just had to take a picture!

Just before we left we saw a couple dressed up in very traditional clothes that were drawing attention from several people passing by. Several had stopped to have their picture taken with the couple and I sawthe perfect opportunity to take a picture of them as well!

At this point it was getting cold so we decided to call it a day and head home. We can't wait to go back when everything is open so we can actually tour all of the buildings. Of course that means that you can expect a lot more pictures in the near future!