Tiananmen Square & The Forbidden City

Yesterday (Saturday) we visited Tiananmen Square & The Forsbidden City. This is located at the center of Beijing City. At Tiananmen Square we visited Tiananmen Tower, Monument to the People's Heroes, Great Hall of the People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and the national flag. Thousands of people come to the Square every day. It is the most visited place in Beijing City.

At the north end of the Square is Tiananmen Tower... the front door of the Forbidden City. The most important use of it in the past was to declare in a big ceremony to the common people who became the emperor or empress. Until 1911 when the last feudal kingdom was over, no one could enter the Tower except for the royal family and aristocrats. We walked through the Forbidden City (which is now known as the Palace Museum) which covered 74 hectares and 9,999 buildings! It is huge!!! The Forbidden City is divided into two parts. The southern section, or the Outer Court was where the emperor exercised his supreme power over the nation. The northern section, or the Inner Court was where he lived with his royal family. The Palace Museum is now one of the most popular tourist attractions world wide. We have attached a few pictures of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.

We are off to Changsha today... and we will meet Maggie tomorrow! We will try to write more tonight when we arrive at the hotel. If we do not get a chance to write tonight... our next post will be about us meeting our daughter!!!!