Beijing 2024 - Tiananmen Square (天安门)

Tiananmen Square, a controversial place to visit. Fun fact, before doing the research to visit this place, I always thought it meant South of the Sky Gate, instead of Peace Under the Sky Gate. I hate reading Chinese place's name in English. Cause it's hard to tell what they meant. But once I see the name in Chinese, I would go, ooooooh THAT was what it meant! So, visiting this palace was actually free. But what I didn't know was, you still needed to make a reservation before they even let you near the place. So it was only on our third try did we managed to actually go in. First was when we tried to visit it on our first day and can't even get closed to it due to all the security detour. Second time we made it to  the entrance but then realised we needed a reservation. So this was the third time. 

After getting though security, we walked towards the gate with huge fountains by it. It was pretty impressive. For me anyway.

Security was pretty chill once you made it through. People were just wandering around taking photos. Unless you were in a narrow path area, you could just linger around. At the narrow path area, the guards would ask you to keep walking so as not to hold up the traffic.

A view of Tiananmen with the fountain.  

People walking in. The portrait of Chairman Mao at the center. I didn't managed to visit the Mao Mausoleum. Based on my survey, both sites was free entrance and near to each other. Well, guess what, you needed a separate reservation to visit the mausoleum!!!!! UGH!!!!!! Oh well, that was the only thing I didn't get to do on my itinerary list. I was ok with it, a little sore, but I could accept it since I didn't know what it looked like. It was more important for me to see Tiananmen Square instead. So I'm glad I made it here after three tries!

I guess most local Chinese would visit here. Perhaps it's on par with visiting the Great Wall, or the Forbidden City. I wanted to visit because of the historical significant. And to actually see Chairman Mao's portrait hanging there. It was so surreal for me. 

Couldn't get enough photos of this place, lol. It's actually pretty small area. The front was the main attraction. But once you've taken the iconic photo and made your way through the gates, it was already the exit. A good 20 minutes was all it took to visit this historical site!

At the back exit, there is a tall marble pillar. A guardian of sort.

A souvenir shot of us in front of Chairman Mao! I'm so glad I managed to visit this place!