tiananmen rostrum and square

Located in the center of the city of Beijing, Tian’anmen is the symbol of the people’s Republic of China. Started to be built in 1417, the 15th year under the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the gate was formerly called Chengtianmen(Gate of Heavenly Succession The name of Chengtianmen was taken from the name of the front gate for the emperor city in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It simple means that “the emperor begin the fortune by acting upon the mandate of the heaven” and “everything he does is to carry out the will of the heaven above.”), which was the front gate of the Imperial City. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the peasant army led by Lizicheng entered the city of Beijing, but later when the Qing Army marched upon Beijing, the Chengtianmen was destroyed under the crossfire. It was rebuilt in 1651, the eighth year in the reign Shunzhi with the name changed into “tian’an men”.

The Tian’anmen Square in front of it, running 880 meters from north to south and 500 meters from east to west, cover an area of 44 hectares. Therefore, it is the largest square in the world!

Built on a Sumeru dais of white marble-pieces, the Tian’anmen gate tower stands 33.7 meters high, and the platform was built of large pieces of bricks with each weighting 24 kilograms. Standing on the platform is a two-storied hall of double eaves with its gabled roof covered by glistening yellow glazed tiles. At both ends of the roof-ridge, there are four slanting ledges decorated with dragons, phoenixes and some mythical bird-like animal named “Qiwen”. The frontal of the hall consist of nine bays from east to west and five bays in depth from north to south, adopting the number of nine and five to suggest the supreme dignity of an emperor.

Put up in the period of Yongle’s reign in the Ming Dynasty, the “Hua biao” in front of the Tian’anmen Gate, each weighing 20,000 kilograms has a history of about 600 years. Atop it is a “Chenglupan”—a tray for receiving falling dews, with a chimera called “Hou” squatting in it. “Hou” is , as said, one of the nine sons of the dragon, As it has a habit of alertness for over-watching, it is always made to sit on the dew receiving tray atop an ornamental column. With its head poking slightly upwards and gazing into the distance ahead it is popularly known as “Wangtianhou”, namely a chimera gazing into the sky. A cloud bar is inserted horizontally below the chimera with cloud dragon carved in the stone column.