Night View of Tiananmen Square

The busy traffic before Tiananmen Tower

A closer look at Tiananmen Tower

Standing in front of the Tiananmen Tower facing the south,  look at the center piece of Tiananmen Square - The Monument to a huge basket of flowers, People's Heroes and Chairman Mao's Mausoleum on the south.

The Great Hall of the People sits on the west of Tiananmen Square, the meeting place of national people's congress of the People's Republic of China, a Chinese style of parliament.

Monument to the People's Heroes - There are eight white marble sculptures on the monument seat: including a series of important history events, Such as Opium burning in Humen, Jintian Uprising. Wuchang uprising, etc.

Chairman Mao's Mausoleum on the south. Chairman Mao's Mausoleum started to build in November 1976 and completed in May 1977.

The old building of Bank of China sits on the west of Tiananmen Square, a western style architecture.

Zhengyangmen Tower （Facing the Sun Gate), together with Arrow Tower is collectively called "Qianmen" (Front Gate), one of nine inner gates in the city wall built in Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is located south of Chairman Mao's Mausoleum.

Arrow Tower, together with Zhengyangmen Tower is collectively known as "Qianmen",  one of the nine gates in the city wall of Ming and Qing dynasties.

On the southeast corner of Tiananmen Square sits the old train station which has been turned into China Railway Museum.

Tip: Hassle-free Beijing Guided Tours

If you don’t want to go the do-it-yourself route and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours,  here are some options for Beijing guided tours:

Further Readings

Chinese version of the travel guide: