天安门和故宫: Beyond a Forbidden Square

Tiananmen Square & the Forbidden City, 31ºC, sunny

Today, we embarked on our first weekend excursion of the programme. Under the dazzling rays of the bright morning sun, we took a coach to the heart of Beijing – 天安门广场 Tiananmen Square. I had been once before, and I instantly recalled the vast, seemingly endless space. This time, there was not a four-hour long queue of Chinese tourists eager to view Mao Zedong’s remains for all of two minutes. However, the relative emptiness of the square on this Saturday morning emphasised something far greater to me. My head was filled with images of June 5^th 1989, over 100,000 protesters, dozens of tanks, and, of course, tank man himself. As I watched young children chasing each other around the square, I wondered if they would ever understand how close China came to changing forever at that very square. No matter how history is taught in China, the world will not forget that day.

After a photo opportunity, our tour guide led us past the famous portrait of Mao and into the 故宫 Forbidden City. This enclosed “city” includes some 980 buildings and 8707 rooms. Its size is unfathomable, and its architecture constant. A classmate commented, “It looks like a 1950s construction with a borrowed history.” This may seem rather extreme, but reconstruction (that might be considered maintenance in China…) has made the red pillars of each temple look relatively modern and every ornament seems to belie the city’s 600 year history. As we had discussed in class earlier in the week, China is both 古老 ancient and 现代化 modern: the Forbidden City embodies this in its fresh look and indisputable history.