Tian’an Men Square & Forbidden City

Tian’an Men Square

Tian’an Men Square is regarded as the center of Beijing. It occupies an area of 44 hectares(108.7acres),880 meters from north to south and 500 meters from east to west, big enough to hold half a million people for public gathering.The square has witnessed many historical events in modern China. In 1919,the May 4th Movement broke out in Beijing .Students and residents staged a patriotic demonstration on the square. In 1935, students in Beijing launched the December 9th Movement against the Japanese aggression and Chiang the Kai-shek's policy of non-resistance, they held a demonstration on the square.

On April 5,1976, lots of people gathered here to commemorate ZhouEnlai and opposite the “Gang of four”- JiangQing,Wang Hongwen , Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan. Many tourists to Tian’anmen Square would like to have their pictures taken in front of white marble Jinshuiqiao(Golden Water Bridges).

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, also called Palace museum in China, was the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1420-1911). In early 1406, large-scale construction involved 100,000 artisans and one million civilians .The construction took 14 years and was completed in 1420.In the following year, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. 24 emperors- “Sons of heaven ” of the Ming and Qing dynasty ruled at the Forbidden City. The last dynasty fell in 1911, but the last emperor Puyi still lived in the inner court. It was not until 1925 that the complex was converted into a museum. Since then the palace has been opened to the public. The Forbidden City is a national architectural treasure.

The Forbidden City located in the centre of Beijing, covering an area of 72 hectares(720,000aquare meters ) with more than 9,000 rooms together in this complex. It is rectangular in shape,960 meters long from north to south and 760 meters wide from east to west. There is a 3,400-metre-long and 10-metre-high wall, surrounded by a 3,800-metre-long and 52-metre wide moat. In the Ming Dynasty, the timber needed for building the palace was brought mostly from Sichuan ,Human and Guizhou provinces, while in the Qing Dynasty, it was cut from northeast China. Most of the stones were quarried from the suburban district of Fangshan and other districts. Construction of the Forbidden City brought tremendous hardship to the laboring people.