The largest public square in the world, Tiananmen Square is just outside of the Forbidden City, in the center of Beijing.

The square was originally built in 1417, and 1651, the gate was renovated and renamed to it's present form. Tiananmen means "Gate of Heavenly Peace". Enlarged in 1949 to 100 acres, much of the Square is open space with no trees or benches. Trees line the east and west edges of the Square, it is lit with huge lamposts which also sport video cameras, and it is heavily monitored by uniformed and plainclothes policemen. Tiananmen Square has been the site of a number of political events such as the proclamation of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong in October 1, 1949, and for mass rallies during the Cultural Revolution. It has also been the site of a number of protest movements, most recently the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, which resulted in the killing of several thousand young Chinese in the square and adjacent areas and was thus called the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

The Tiananmen Gate

The Square

And we danced...