Beijing -- Tiananmen Square

The bus dropped us off and we started our three hour afternoon walk that would take us across Tiananmen Square, then through the Forbidden City....

On our approach to the square, we first saw the Zhenyangmen Gatehouse (above) and the Qianmen Archer Tower (below) which are located on the opposite side of the square from the "Heavenly Peace Gate" leading into the Forbidden City.

 

As we rounded the corner, these two soldiers were walking along the sidewalk, saw us, did their perfect toe point turn and stood at attention, apparently to allow us to take their picture. Well, Rodney and Brian wanted their picture with the soldiers, so moved over toward them. The soldiers, pretty much in unison, each held up a gloved hand signifying 'stop'! We were all like, "Oh! Ok!?!" 

Looking across the street at Tiananmen Square and the gate wall to the Forbidden City. 

As we crossed the square, the National Museum of China was on our right.

In the middle of the square is the Monument to the People's Heroes. The Great Hall of the People can be seen in the background. 

At the back of the square are these two ginormous screens!! There was music playing and some kind of video loop showing.... 

We found it interesting that these two soldiers/guards were standing very statuesque in glass boxes beside the flag.

An interesting tidbit about Tiananmen Square-- the square is closed every June 4 in fear of retaliation from family members of those killed during the protests in 1989.

Our group souvenir photo....
The little characters are the Olympic mascots.

After we crossed the square and took the underpass to the other side of the road, we found a couple of soldiers in place allowing photos to be taken with them :)
An interesting side note-- it seems the soldiers and even police that we saw, instead of having name tapes or a name tag had a number.....

This guy stands outside the Heavenly Peace Gate.

In an emergency, call 999!! 

Not sure where this cannon was from originally, but it was impressive!

We learned a little bit about Chinese child-rearing---
when it comes to potty training, the Chinese do it very differently!!
When the child turns one, they start dressing them in "split pants" which are pants with a split crotch. So, when the child needs to use the toilet, they simply squat where they are and go!!! So, we saw a few Chinese baby bums peeking out of their split pants!! Although, at times, the parents will put a diaper on the child, sometimes under the split pants, but sometimes over them!!