The Tiananmen Square, known as the largest central city square in the world, is located in the center of Beijing. It is 880 meters from north to south, and 500 meters from east to west, occupies a total area of 440,000 square meters and can hold one million people for public gathering. The grandeur Tiananmen Gate Tower, the national symbol, sites to the north tip of the square; the Five-Star Red Flag flies high on the square; the Monument to the People's Heroes dominates the center; the Great Hall of the People and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the Museum of Chinese History site to the east and west of it; while in the south of the square are Chairman Mao Memorial Hall and the Qianmen gate,. Over several hundred years, the square viewed and experienced many democracy meetings and demonstrations. The Square is listed among the top Beijing's 16 scenic spots and tens of thousands of people visit daily.

Huabiao
Right beside a pair of marble lions in front of the Tian'anmen Gate stand obelisk of marble engraved with entwisting dragons and clouds - an ornamental architecture called Huabiao. Its history can be traced back to the Yao and Shun, legendary kings in remote antiquity. To solicit public criticism, it is said that wooden crosses were erected at marketplaces for people to write down complaints. Later during the Han (206 B.C. -- 220 A.D.) wooden posts were replaced by stone pillars, which gradually became the sumptuous columns to palace gates. Huabiao can be usually found in imperial gardens and mausoleums.

On the top is a plate-shape flat called Chenglupan (dew-collecting) on which squats an animal called kong (a legendary animal for watch-keeping) facing to the south. They were called "Wangjungui" or "looking forward to the emperor's return," who watched over the emperor's excursions and called him back. The couple inside the gate facing north, called Wangjunchu or "looking forward to the emperor's progress," were considered to supervise the emperor's behavior in the court when he neglect court affairs.

Great Hall of the People(Ren Min Da Hui Tang)
This is the venue of the legislature, the National People's Congress. Summit meetings are often held in the 10,000-seat auditorium with the familiar red star embedded in a galaxy of lights in the ceiling. Also you can visit the 5000 seat banquet room where US president Richard Nixon dined in 1972.

The Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao (Mao Zhu Xi Ji Nian Tang)
The memorial hall is shaped like a square with coverage of 20,000 square meters and a height of 33.6 meters. Currently there are 10 halls open to the public.

The north hall to the main gate can accommodate over 700 people. It is the place where the memorial activities are held. In the center of the hall erects Chairman Mao's three-meter-high sitting statue made of white marbles. Chairman Mao wears smiles with grand manner. Behind the statue is a large-scale floss embroidery entitled Throughout China. Revolutionary achievements of Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De are on display in the west and the east halls. Inside the halls, visitors can found many cultural relics, historical documents, letters and pictures.

The core of the memorial hall is the Respecting Hall, in the middle of which is the crystal coffin that contains the remains of Chairman Mao in grey sun yat sen's uniform and covered with the red banner of the Chinese Communist Party. Made of black granite, the coffin platform is surrounded by flowers. On the white-marble wall of the hall, gold-plating characters are beset: Eternal glory to our great leader and teacher Chairman Mao!

The National Museum (Guo Jia Bo Wu Guan)
These two museums are located on the eastern side of Tian'anmen Square, opposite the Great Hall of the People.
The building that houses the museums was one of ten famous structures built in 1959 to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.

The Museum of Chinese History is in the South Wing while the North Wing houses the Museum of the Chinese Revolution. They were both opened to the public in 1961. The complex has a total floor space of 65,000 square meters filled with interesting exhibits.

The Museum of Chinese History displays three main periods of Chinese history. The first, Primitive Society, ranges from 500,000 B.C. to 4,000 B.C. The exhibits in the Slave Society section cover the time from 2,100 B.C. to 475 B.C. The Feudal Society exhibits focus on the period from 221 B. - to 1911.

The Museum of the Chinese Revolution emphasizes the history of the past 150 years, in particular the history of the Communist Party of China. It is divided into three sections.

The exhibits in the Old Democratic Revolution section cover the period from 1840-1911. Events between 1911 and 1949 fall into the New Democratic Revolution section. The third section is entitled "The Triumph of the Revolution and the Establishment of Socialism" and covers events after 1949.

Monument to the People's Heroes (Ren Min Ying Xiong Ji Nian Bei)
Monument to the People's Heroes is in the center of Tiananmen Square. Construction began in August 1951 and the monument was finally erected in April 1958 and it was the first large scale memorial built in socialist China. The marble and granite column rises close to 38 meters (125ft) and has gilded calligraphy by Chairman Mao that reads "Eternal glory to the people's heroes" on its northern fa?ade. The base of the structure is decorated with bas-relief carvings depicting major revolutionary events and the monument also has calligraphy by Zhou Enlai.

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