#47 Teaching at Taizhou Teachers College, China (Tian'anmen Square, a first look)

After a 12 hr. overnight train journey from Taizhou, we arrived somewhat fatigued at the trainstation in Beijing. This time there were no lines for a taxi, and the ride to the hotel took only 30 minutes. For the most, the streets in Beijing are wide, separating pedestrians and bikes and mopeds and rickshaws from car and truck and bus traffic. Trees and landscaping provide shade from the oppressive summer heat on both sides of the roads.

Preparing for the Summer Olympics in 2008, the police is vigilant in preventing the bad and dangerous habits of past traffic-behavior, when "each person" on the road believed their forward-journey was of "only" importance.

In Beijing, with some 15 million inhabitants, the traffic-patterns are much more in line with the traffic-customs of Western countries, something still to be imitated in the medium sized city (5 million) of Taizhou, where I make my home.

Check-in at the Yue Xiu Hotel was "painless", this time. :-) The room for this hotel was reasonable ( $60) and comfortable (AC and hot shower). Our local tour guide, Amber, who was eager to practice her English, lead us to Tiananmen Square via subway, only 3 stops from the hotel.

The subway system is clean and efficient, though crowded most of the time. It was quickly obvious, that the people of Beijing are getting quite used to Western faces, and unlike Taizhou, my status as a "star" was somewhat deminished.

Emerging from the station, Tiananmen Square lay before us as the largest open space of any city in the world. There were multitudes of visitors, most from China itself, and others quite obviously from countries around the globe, and all of us baked in the heat of the summer sun. (I continue to wear dark shirts, to cover my amount of persperation.)

This huge area covers some 100 acres, and has witnessed important developments in China's history:

- Momentous political demonstrations took place there during the Republic from 1911-1949.

- Chairman Mao established the People's Republic of China from the rostrum of the Gate of Heavenly Peace in 1949.

- In 1960's, the Chairman broadcast to the million-strong ranks of Red Guards, that the time for the Cultural Revolution had arrived.

- In the 1970's, demonstrations in support of the late premier, Zhou Enlai were instrumental in the downfall of the "Gang of Four", which included Chairman Mao's wife.

- In the spring of 1989, student demonstrations were a daily feed from the Square by the Western Media until the military crackdown.

The more obvious presence of police at this site points to the sensitivity and significance of this historic city Square, having played such a paramount role throughout China's history.

The enormous Square facing the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen) is known as the "heart" of China. During the Qing empire, buildings lined a wide avenue leading to the entrance of the Imperial Palace. These buildings were demolished during the first part of the 20th Century to make room for this gigantic open space.

The Gate of Heavenly Peace, from which hangs the portrait of Chairman Mao, (his face is also the image of every Yuan bill of every denomination) is an imposing long red structure, with a double roof of yellow tiles. The slogan in its left reads: "Long live the Peoples Republic of China", and on the right: "Long live the unity of the people of the world".

Emperors handed down edicts from its high rostrum with dramatic fanfare. The decrees were lowered in the beak of a golden phoenix, and received by dignitaries waiting on their knees. In recent history, the founding of the New China was declared in 1949 from its rostrom.

The pleasing and harmonious architecture of the Ming Dynasty, responsible for its construction, beckons the visitors to come ever closer, and to leave the adjecent, more modern structures (the Great Hall of the People, the Museum of Chinese History, the Museum of the Chinese Revolution, Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall etc.) for a next visit or a rainy day.

Seven marble bridges lead to Tiananmen Gate, that formed this first entrance to the Forbidden City. Under imperial rule, only the emperor could use the central bridge. Now it is the place, where every visitor poses for photos, while standing on the emperor's center- and much wider- marble over-pass.

The massive gate and the structure it supports have become an icon for China as a nation. (ex. its photo is on every RMB banknote). For the millions of Chinese, who want to be photographed in front of it every day of the year, this experience of being here is important. They feel the historical significance of Tiananmen Square deeply and quite personally.

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