13.02.09 Tian'anmen Square

Today was finally the day to register to school. I was told earlier that registration would be from the 11th to the 13th, but in reality it was on the 13th and it took forever. You had to go from room to room and wait in line for each room. But eventually I got it done and since the weather was really good and sunny, I decided to go and walk around the Tian'anmen Square area.


I've been to the Tian'anmen area before but I hadn't taken pictures from the area, so that is why I went today. First I walked on the Tian'anmen Square and took pictures of Mao's Mausoleum and the Monument to the People's Heroes, which is in the center of the Square. At the south end of the Square, there is a gate called the Zhengyangmen and on the north side, across the street, there is a gate called Miaojiemen that has a picture of Mao on the wall.


On the west side of Tian'anmen Square there is the National Grand Theatre, also called the Egg, which is an egg shaped glass and metal covered building surrounded by a park. On the south side there is a pedestrian street build basically just for tourists. The street is filled with old style beautiful shops, that are, at least at the moment, almost all empty.


In the pictures you can see the two gates on the south side of Tian'anmen Square and the gate on the north side with Mao's picture. The last picture is of a street musician that saw. He is playing a Peking Opera style instrument, which name I don't know but the music did sound interesting :)