Our first day of sightseeing was not over yet. North of the Temple of Heaven and just south of the Forbidden City is the center of modern Beijing: Tian'an Men Square. (Note: I'm spelling it like our guidebook does.) We saved this for the end of the day since we were not particularly interested in (on the advice of the guidebook, Ben, and my memory from 1984) trying to go inside any of the buildings.

The famous picture of Mao Zedong hangs where he announced the beginning of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. It also marks the southern gate to the Forbidden City. The statue pictured above is one of two that stand outside of Mao's mausoleum in the middle of Tian'an Men Square.

It was incredibly windy while we were there. The flags were whipping wildly and made a lot of noise. At times it was difficult to walk. Dan lost his hat and ran for several yards before catching his precious Padres cap.

Above is the Monument to the Heroes and it dominates the center of the square. Below are the Front Gate (red) and the Arrow Gate (gray). These are on the south end of the square (really more of a rectangle) and line up directly with the gates of the Forbidden City. Imagine coming upon Beijing centuries ago and seeing these marking the entrances to layers of walls surrounding the city.

Dan and I were feeling rather burnt out by this point in the day. (It's still our first day of sightseeing, remember?) We started wandering to look for food. Along the way we came upon another lion statue (imagine that!) and the Old Railway Station built by the British. As we wandered and it became darker, we started getting hassled a bit by the local rickshaw drivers. Using the guidebook as our lifeline, we decided to hail a taxi and try the Wangfujing Market for something to eat. (We should have looked closer, I see now that the guidebook says there is a McDonald's in the Old Railway Station.)

Continue to Wangfujing Market