Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city centre of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("Gate of Heavenly Peace") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City imperial palace complex. The square holds the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. They were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2024 as a part of the Beijing Central Axis. Tiananmen Square was designed and built in 1651 and was enlarged fourfold in the 1950s. Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China in the square on October 1, 1949; the anniversary of this event is still observed there. The size of Tiananmen Square is 765 × 282 meters (215,730 m2 or 53.31 acres). A national flagpole is located at the northern end of the square, where flag-raising and flag-lowering ceremonies are held daily at sunrise and sunset. The square has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history, including the May Fourth Movement in 1919, the March 18 Massacre in 1926, and the 1976 Tiananmen incident. Outside China, the square is best known for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Within China, the government undertakes strict censorship regarding the 1989 protests and subsequent massacre.