tiananmen square

The “Gate of Heavenly Peace” at Tiananmen Square is one of the most iconic images of Beijing (the thing with the big portait of Chairman Mao), so I couldn’t very well leave without taking a few photos of my own.  Those pictures look like any other you see though, so I won’t bother posting any.  I walked around the plaza a bit, not much to do or many pictures to take, but I did get a kick out of watching the other tourists pose for their obligatory photos.  More than one group attempting to capture themselves while jumping in the air.  On a nice warm day I can imagine it would be cool to hang out and play games or read, but it is the middle of December and too cold for that right now so I kept moving and walked through the Gate of Heavenly Peace.  Really all that lies between that and the Forbidden City is a handful of souvenir stands which you can see in the reflection here.

When I got to the entrance of the Forbidden City I was approached a couple of times by people offering to be my guide, but I turned them all down explaining that I had already been when they wouldn’t simply take “no” for an answer.  So I turned back and retraced my steps back to the plaza.  Around the perimeter of the plaza is the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, the Great Hall of the People, and the National Museum of China, but I wasn’t in much of a museum mood so it was back to the subway and on to the next site!