June 4th: Remembering Tian'an Men Square

Work was pretty lame today.  Everyone had a case of the Mondays and things got off to a rough start.  We made up for it after work by getting some delicious vegetarian dim sum at the tea house that Christopher works and heading over to a massive demonstration at Victoria Park in remembrance of the Tian'an Men Square Massacre of 1989.  There were thousands of people gathered with candles and speakers and performances (all in Cantonese).  I was chilling and moving and impressive.  It was yet another reminder of the growing tension between Hong Kongers and Mainland Chinese.

Beijing's Hutongs

A lot of the bikes had built-in gloves!  What a good idea

Hutong means street or ally and Beijing is full of small ally ways with shops, food and housing.  My hostel was located in the ally where I took most of these pictures.  It was quite fun to walk around, but you had to watch out for all the bikes.

Red Lantern Hostel

YES!  good espresso at the hostel

This girl from Hong Kong and I brought the same guide book

As I mentioned before, I was really impressed with the hostel I stayed in while in Beijing.  I chose to get my own private room (with bathroom- "water closet" style).  I joined in the dumpling making class they hold on Saturday nights and met a bunch of people.  It was really charming and cute and the staff was really nice.

Tian'an Men Square

2 lines for men, 1 for women

and the men had to wait, but women went right through security... the only example I saw of the gender imbalance in China

view of Tian'an Men Square from the Gate with the Mao portrait

I kinda got in trouble for taking this photo- I think you're not allowed to stop walking

heavily secured area- apparently the Mao portrait has been vandalized twice in history, but they have extra copies ready for backup

and here's the square...

complete with video propaganda of how amazing China is...

Tian'an Men Square did not make it to even my top 10 favorite things in Beijing, but of course I had to see it.  It's really really big and boring and heavily secured (x-ray machines and guards).  It's also hot and doesn't have any shade or places to sit.  However, it is supposedly the largest public square and it's right in the middle of the city. 

Beijing Parks

Beijing has several big city parks- that cost money to go into.  These are some pictures from 3 of the parks I went to.