TIAN'ANMEN SQUARE

Yesterday we had gotten our first view of Tian’anmen Square from a taxi window as we drove passed. There were thousands of people crowding together. It was late in the afternoon and the sky was threatening rain. So when our bus unloaded us at the entrance first thing Monday I had a good idea what to expect. Though we arrived early in the morning the sun had already begun to beat down on us.

All I can really say about this Square is that it is huge. The people were still filing in and you could see that though this place could hold thousands and thousands, this place was far bigger than I could have ever imagined.

People from all over China, not just the world, come to visit here and you can see the different ethnic groups milling about, actually seeming to be just as amazed as I was at the tremendous size of this open space.

There’s not really much to see in the Square, but I think that it’s the ‘being there’ that makes this a special place. Our guide did not have answers for us when we asked about the confrontation between the students and the military. She said that even though she is from Beijing she was not there at the time and she could not believe that the soldiers in her country would open fire on any of its own citizens. “The government has promised to tell the real story to the people in the near future,” she said.