October 1 is China’s National Day, and if somebody wanted to get into the spirit of the occasion, there are few ways better to celebrate than take a stroll around Tian'anmen Square. After all, nothing says “patriotic holiday” like bouquets of giant mutant flowers. Although, if that’s a new rose, we’re disinclined to meet the bee which pollinated the previous flower.
Our walk starts from the Tian'anmen East Metro Stop (Line 1) and works our way clockwise around the square.
Today, Tian'anmen Square is one of the largest public plazas in China, but during the imperial period it was a relatively narrow corridor that ran along the Central Axis of Beijing and connected Zhengyangmen/Qianmen (“Front Gate”) with Tian'anmen (“Gate of Heavenly Peace”). The small gate between the two (roughly where Mao's tomb is today) was the former Zhonghuamen (China Gate).
(And yes, Tiananmen Square was also the epicenter of the student demonstrations that were violently suppressed by the ruling Communist Party on June 4, 1989. Not much about that in the nearby museums, however.)