The end of our trip brought us to Beijing. We were staying in the Far East Hostel, that was only about a 15 minute walk to Tianamen Square. I have never seen such intimidating buildings as I did around Tianamen. Tianamen is framed on all sides by impressive structures. To the north of the square is the entrance gate to The Forbidden city, on the West side is The People's Hall (legislature,) to the East is the National Museum, and in the center is Mao's mausoleum (where the former evil leader's body is on display.) All of these buildings have, minus the Forbidden City, have one thing in common: intimidating communist architecture. Each concrete building has very similar designs, with large columns and very square design. Standing in the center of this large public square you can not help but to feel the power that is emitted in the epicenter of Chinese political power. To the North stands the Forbidden Palace, a reminder of the old Chinese Empire, but even this has been turned into a shrine for Communism; displaying a massive painting of Mao above the center gate (which was shot with paintballs during the pro-democracy protests that happened in 1989.) It was amazing to think of the events that took place there in '89. There is still a huge military and police force that patrols the Square and the surrounding area. The soldiers are ready if citizens begin to think that democracy is the solution once again, just like on that fateful day in 1989.
No comments:
Post a Comment