Tiananmen Square was designed and built in 1651 and was enlarged fourfold in the 1950s. Chairman Mao Zedongproclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China in the square on October 1,1949;the anniversary of this event is still observed there.[2] The size of Tiananmen Square is 765 ×282 meters (215,730 m2 or 53.31 acres).[3] A national flagpole is located at the northern end of the square,where flag-raising and flag-lowering ceremonies are held daily at sunrise and sunset.
Tiananmen Square during the Qing Dynasty,viewed from the Zhengyangmen Gate (Qianmen Gate) with the Gate of China,later removed in 1954 to make room for the present-day Mao Zedong Mausoleum. The "corridor of a thousand steps" is visible (behind the Gate of China) and Tiananmen Gate is in the distance.Tiananmen Square during the May Fourth movement in 1919(video) Two shots of the namesake gate to the north followed by a shot of inside Tiananmen Square in 2017
The Tiananmen ("Gate of Heavenly Peace"),a gate in the wall of the Imperial City,was built in 1417 during the Ming dynasty. During the 17th century,fighting between Li Zicheng's rebel forces and the forces of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty caused heavy damage to,or even destroyed,the gate. Tiananmen Square was designed and built in 1651 and was enlarged fourfold in the 1950s.[8][9]
The gate historically known as the "Great Ming Gate",the southern gate to the Imperial City stands near the center of the square. It was renamed the "Great Qing Gate" during the Qing dynasty,and the "Gate of China" during the Republican era. Unlike the other gates in Beijing,such as the Tiananmen and the Zhengyang Gate,this was a purely ceremonial gateway,with three arches but no ramparts,similar in style to the ceremonial gateways found in the Ming tombs. This gate had a special status as the "Gate of the Nation",as can be seen from its successive names. It normally remained closed,except when the emperor passed through. Commoner traffic was diverted to side gates at the western and eastern ends of the square,respectively. Because of this diversion in traffic,a busy marketplace,called "Chess Grid Streets",was developed in the large fenced square to the south of this gate.[citation needed]
19th century
In 1860,during the Second Opium War,when British and French troops occupied Beijing,they pitched camp near the gate and briefly considered burning down the gate and the Forbidden City. Ultimately,they decided to spare the Forbidden City and instead burn down the Old Summer Palace. The Xianfeng Emperor eventually agreed to let Western powers barrack troops –and later establish diplomatic missions –in the area,hence there was the Legation Quarter immediately to the east of the square. When the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance besieged Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900,they badly damaged the office complexes and burnt down several ministries. After the Boxer Rebellion ended,the area became a space for the Eight-Nation Alliance to assemble their military forces.[citation needed]
20th century
In the 20th century,Tiananmen Square was re-developed from an insular imperial quarter to a larger public space viewed as more consistent with the political state of China at the time.[10]:110 During the 1950s,the square was quadrupled in size.[10]:110
In 1954,the Gate of China was demolished to enlarge the square,and in November 1958,a major expansion of Tiananmen Square started,which was completed after only 11 months in August 1959. This followed the vision of Mao Zedong to make the square the largest and most spectacular in the world,as it was intended to hold over 500,000 people. During this process,a large number of residential buildings and other structures were demolished.[11] On its southern edge,the Monument to the People's Heroes was erected. Concomitantly,as part of the Ten Great Buildings constructed between 1958 and 1959 to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC),the Great Hall of the People and the Revolutionary History Museum (now the National Museum of China) were erected on the western and eastern sides of the square.[11]
For the first decade of the PRC,every National Day (October 1) was marked by a large military parade in Tiananmen Square,in conscious emulation of the annual Soviet celebrations of the Bolshevik Revolution. After the disastrous Great Leap Forward,the CCP decided to cut costs and have only smaller annual National Day celebrations in addition to a large celebration with a military parade every 10 years. However,the chaos of the Cultural Revolution almost prevented such an event from taking place on National Day in 1969 but did take place in 1966 and 1970.[citation needed]
In 1971,large portraits of Karl Marx,Friedrich Engels,Vladimir Lenin,Joseph Stalin,Sun Yat-sen,and Mao Zedong were erected in the square,painted by artist Ge Xiaoguang,who is also responsible for producing the famous portrait of Mao currently displayed over the Gate of Heavenly Peace. In 1980,with the downgrading of political ideology following Mao's death,the portraits were taken down and thenceforth only brought out on Labor Day (May 1) and National Day.[citation needed]
Ten years later,in 1979,the CCP again decided against a large-scale celebration,coming at a time when Deng Xiaoping was still consolidating power and China had suffered a rebuff in a border war with Vietnam earlier that year. By 1984,with the situation stabilized,the government held a military parade for the first time since 1959. The aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre prevented any such activities in October 1989,but military parades have been held in 1999 and 2009,on the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the PRC's founding.[12]
One year after Mao's death,a mausoleum was built near the site of the former Gate of China along the main north–south axis of the square. In connection with this project,the square was further increased in size to become fully rectangular and able to accommodate 600,000 people.[11]
In 1989, Tiananmen Square was the site of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests that culminated in violence and a crackdown by the People's Liberation Army.[13][14] Following the crackdown, many of the student leaders escaped to the United States with the help of foreign intelligence agencies and other parties through Operation Yellowbird.[15]
The urban context of the square was altered in the 1990s with the construction of National Grand Theater in its vicinity and the expansion of the National Museum.[11]
Configuration
1967 satellite image of Tiananmen Square with the Tian'anmen gate to the north. Further work on the square was carried out in the 1970s to extend the open plaza by demolishing the buildings immediately to the south of the square.
Used as a venue for mass gatherings since its creation, its flatness is contrasted by both the 38-meter (125ft)-high "Monument to the People's Heroes" and the "Mausoleum of Mao Zedong".[8] The square lies between two ancient, massive gates: the Tiananmen to the north and the Zhengyangmen, known as Qianmen, to the south. Along the west side of the square is the Great Hall of the People. Along the east side is the National Museum of China dedicated to Chinese history predating 1919.
Erected in 1989, Liberty, a statue representing the western icon previously held her torch over the square.[16]
Visits
Since Dec 15, 2021, visitors must make a reservation before entering the square area.[17]
↑Ruan, Lotus; Knockel, Jeffrey; Ng, Jason Q.; Crete-Nishihata, Masashi (December 2016). "One App, Two Systems". figure 9. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
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