What Was Originally Where the Tiananmen Square Is Today?

Chang’an Avenue - Beijing's Revolutionary Road Part Two

The Chang’an Avenue is almost synonymous with modern Beijing, its exalted status deriving from the fact that it leads directly to the Tiananmen Square, the defined center of the city.

Today, arriving in front of the Tiananmen gate - the place from which the Communist republic was proclaimed - is an honour. But under the dynasties, the journey to the gate was not a road you wanted to take, especially not if you were a criminal offender. Standing next to the right Chang’an gate was where those accused of crimes waited to learn whether they would be handed a death sentence.

Tiananmen Square Qing Dynasty

The original square in front of the Tiananmen gate was an enclosed space shaped like a T. On either side were the ministries that served the Imperial government, and at the bottom of the T was the great Ming gate (later called the great Qing gate, and finally the Chinese gate during the republic). The enclosed space was part of the central axis that only the emperor could travel along through the city, and was normally completely off limits to the public. However, a report we have collected from the Beijing City Planning Bureau dating to 1973 suggests that huge crowds would be allowed in as spectators during the Qing and Ming when unlucky offenders had their verdicts published.

Tiananmen before 1912

We have not been able to fully verify this, but it is safe to say that the square south of the Tiananmen gate did not become a public open square until after the last emperor had abdicated. At that point, trees were planted and for the first time people could freely walk from east to west in Beijing along the Chang’an road.

Tiananmen Square, 1930s

This new freedom of movement would be fully utilized on the fourth of May 1919, when students marched to the Tiananmen gate to protest against the treatment of China in the aftermath of the First World War. The Tiananmen gate was the natural end point for this demonstration because the republican government had taken over the southernmost part of the Imperial city, so the gate had become the main government access point. What had been a dead space in the middle of Beijing during the Ming and Qing dynasties now had multiple purposes. The square had become a place for a leisurely stroll, a parade ground, and a platform for political agitation.

Parade in front of Tiananmen Gate, 1950s