About
Tiananmen Square in Beijing is the world's largest public square (440,000 m²) and the symbolic center of the People's Republic of China. At its northern edge stands the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen) with Mao Zedong's portrait. The adjacent Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace for 500 years.
The square is best known in the West for the pro-democracy protests of April–June 1989, when up to 1 million demonstrators occupied it, and the subsequent military crackdown on June 3–4 in which an unknown number (estimates range from hundreds to thousands) were killed. The 'Tank Man' photograph — an unknown protester blocking a column of tanks — became one of the 20th century's defining images. The event remains censored in China.
# Top 10 Tiananmen facts
- 1World's largest public square
- 2Forbidden City adjacent
- 3Mao's portrait
- 41989 protests and crackdown
- 5Tank Man photograph
- 6censored in China
- 7Mao's mausoleum there
- 8proclamation of PRC in 1949
- 9National Day ceremonies
- 10traditional ceremonial center for 700 years
Fascinating Facts
- ◆The 'Tank Man' photograph was taken by 4 photographers simultaneously — all smuggled their film out of China
- ◆Searches for 'Tank Man' and '1989' return no results on Chinese search engines — total censorship
- ◆Tiananmen Square can hold 600,000 people — National Day celebrations draw enormous crowds
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