Tianenmen Square - March 11, 2005

Cathleen at Tianenmen Square

There is a reason I look so cold - it was cold! A wind blew down into China from Inner or Outer Mongolia (I forget exactly which). So, while the internet said normal weather in Beijing in March was about 30° to 40° fahrenheit, the wind chill brought the temperature down into the single digits.

Tianenmen Square

We visited Tianenmen Square within hours of landing at the Beijing airport. It was part of the Tianenmen Square/Forbidden City or Imperial Palace/Summer Palace tour. Only about 12 of us (out of about 50) elected to take the tour. As you can see in some of the other pictures, it was very windy that day.

Tianenmen Square is huge! It can easily hold about 1 million people. On this day, the People's Congress was meeting; there were a lot of police and army security people about. We also got our first taste of the ever-present street vendors - a persistent bunch of people no matter where we went in China.

Tianenmen Square is directly to the south of the Forbidden City or Imperial Palace. As our guide, Frank, explained, there are several towers running thru the city on a North-South axis. Several of them run thru Tianenmen Square and the Imperial Palace. They have some significance; however, other than what I mentioned above I have forgotten what that significance is/was.

When we exited our bus, we felt the very cold wind immediately. Eventually, this wind and (in my opinion) sick people on the airplane would lead to my getting sick. This wind also convinced me that I needed more outer wear, so I visited a "department store" close the hotel after the tour and bought another jacket. However, the weather warmed up appreciatively after this day so I really did not need the new jacket.

Tianenmen Square

Across the street from Tianenmen Square is a clock which is counting down the time until the 2008 Summer Olympics, which are being held in Beijing. Everyone was very excited about it, and the street vendors had a lot of cheap souvenirs advertising the Olympics.

Cathleen at the Mao Picture Wall, Tianenmen Square