A memorable trip to Tiananmen Square
I felt like we experienced the “real” China for the first time Monday evening when we took a taxi through hutongs narrow streets and alleys that form neighborhoods in Beijing’s center to Tiananmen Square.
Thousands and thousands of people, mostly Chinese, converge on the massive square in the evening to watch the Chinese flag be lowered. Chairman Mao’s portrait is in the background, and his tomb is in the middle of the square. As one local told us, this is the heart of China, the heart of Beijing.
The nationalism here is very strong right now. As we cut through a subway station, one woman was handing out small Chinese flags. One local man told Peter, a wonderful Beijing resident and recent college graduate who helped us get to Tiananmen Square, to be a good tour guide to us foreigners.
Some things though, you just can’t escape. We had dinner at Lotus Market, an entertainment area set on the shores of a lake. I think we got suckered into a pretty bad, touristy place (the Starbucks next door should’ve been a warning) but the view was amazing.
Tags: beijing, foreigner, Trip, trip to
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Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 4:52 pm under