Seeing Mao Zedong and Tiananmen Square
Trip Start
Jul 29, 2011
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23
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Trip End
Jan 29, 2012
Beijing, China
Friday, October 7, 2011
I joined the moving line, which snaked past Mao’s embalmed body. If it stopped, officials would shout at the offending person to continue. In my short glimpse of Mao, I saw a man snuggled under a communist flag with a dim spotlight highlighting his face. He looked as if he was enjoying the national past time of "having a rest", more so, he looked like a wax work model. It was surreal being so close to the man who changed the course of China’s history. I had to think what the world would be like if he hadn’t existed.
I had expected so much more of Tiananmen Square than it was. Places are famous usually because of natural or manmade beauty. I think Tiananmen Square is mainly well known due to the infamous events in the 90's. Call me cynical, but today it really is little more than an area of concrete. It wasn't even as big as I thought it would be. In fact the first time I went to the Forbidden City with a bunch of other people, we actually missed seeing Tiananmen Square - we didn't notice it behind us! The plus side of going to Tiananmen Square during National Week was that massive floral displays were arranged all over the square which is usually a concrete wasteland. It is certainly an interesting icon, as when you're there you really don't know what to take a photo of! But the Chinese people seem to love it. I suppose any public space in Beijing is a bonus.
