Bird's Nest

Beijing National Stadium (Bird's Nest/Olympic Stadium)

The Beijing National Stadium, also known as the bird's nest will be the main track and field stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics and will be host to the Opening and Closing ceremonies. In 2002 Government officials engaged architects worldwide in a design competition. Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron collaborated with ArupSport and China Architecture Design & Research Group to win the competition. The stadium will seat as many as 100,000 spectators during the Olympics, but this will be reduced to 80,000 after the games. It has replaced the original intended venue of the Guangdong Olympic Stadium. The stadium is 330 metres long by 220 metres wide, and is 69.2 metres tall. The 250,000 square metre (gross floor area) stadium is to be built with 36 km of unwrapped steel, with a combined weight of 45,000 tonnes. The stadium will cost up to 3.5 billion yuan (422,873,850 USD/ 325,395,593 EUR). The ground was broken in December 2003, and construction started in March 2004, but was halted by the high construction cost in August 2004.

In the new design, the roof of the stadium had been omitted from the design. Experts say that this will make the stadium safer, whilst reducing construction costs. The construction of the Olympic buildings will continue once again in the beginning of 2005.

In depth The stadium's appearance is one of synergy, with no distinction made between the facade and the superstructure. The structural elements mutually support each other and converge into a grid-like formation - almost like a bird's nest with its interwoven twigs. The spatial effect of the stadium is novel and radical, yet simple and of an almost archaic immediacy, thus creating a unique historical landmark for the Olympics of 2008.

The stadium was conceived as a large collective vessel, which makes a distinctive and unmistakable impression both from a distance and when seen from up close. It meets all the functional and technical requirements of an Olympic National Stadium, but without communicating the insistent sameness of technocratic architecture dominated by large spans and digital screens.

Visitors walk through this formation and enter the spacious ambulatory that runs full circle around the stands. From there, one can survey the circulation of the entire area including the stairs that access the three tiers of the stands. Functioning like an arcade or a concourse, the lobby is a covered urban space with restaurants and stores that invite visitors to stroll around. Just as birds stuff the spaces between the woven twigs of their nests with a soft filler, the spaces in the structure of the stadium will be filled with inflated ETFE cushions. Originally, on the roof, the cushions were to be mounted on the outside of the structure to make the roof completely weatherproof, but the roof has been omitted from the design in 2004.

While the rain was to be collected for rainwater recuperation, the sunlight was to filter through the translucent roof, providing the lawn with essential ultraviolet radiation. On the facade, the inflated cushions will be mounted on the inside of the structure where necessary, e.g. to provide wind protection. Since all of the facilities -- restaurants, suites, shops and restrooms -- are all self-contained units, it is possible to do largely without a solid, enclosed facade. This allows for natural ventilation of the stadium, which is the most important aspect of the stadium's sustainable design.

The sliding roof was an integral part of the stadium structure. When it was to be closed, it would have converted the stadium into a covered arena; however, the sliding roof was eliminated in an effort to cut costs and increase overall safety of the radical new structure.

Yuanmingyuan

Being the cream of Chinese imperial gardens, Yuanmingyuan was world renowned as "Leader of Gardens". Its construction began in the 48th year of Emperor Kangxi's Reign (1709). It comprised three gardens centered on Fuhai (Lake of Fortune): Changchungyuan (Garden of Everlasting Spring) lying in the east, Yuanmingyuan (Garden of Perfection and Brightness) in the west, and Wangchungyuan (Garden of Ten-thousand Springs) in the south. Yuanmingyuan was a resort used by the feudal rulers for rest and pleasure as well as for holding audiences and attending to state affairs. Its unique architectures and accompanying scenery embodied the finest styles found in scenic spots and places of interests both in China and abroad. Most of the buildings were in the best traditional Chinese palace architectural styles, while occidental styles of arts in palace construction were also absorbed to produce a harmonious combination. One of the examples was the group of the "Western Buildings" in Changchungyuan, of which the main body was modeled on Barolk style but topped with traditional Chinese glazed-tile roofs. As a creation, the perfect combination of Chinese and western architectures added fresh contents to Chinese garden construction.

One-third of the ground of Yuanmingyuan was taken up by over 200 small hills in the scenic area where precipitous cliffs, secluded valleys, steep rock walls and stone caves zigzagged their way about. Half of it was covered by waters of the vast lake and the serpentine streams and ponds. In Yuanmingyuan there were towers, terraces, pavilions, halls, corridors, pagodas, bridges etc. of different sizes, with a total construction area of 150,000 square meters, corresponding to that of the Imperial Palace. The multifarious architectures standing encircled by hills and rivulets and amidstbeautiful flowers and exquisite waters, presented a picturesque view. Of the total 160 scenic attractions in Yuanmingyuan, many were imitations of scenic mountains and rivers and famous gardens in China.

Unfortunately, this Leader of Gardens?was reduced to ruins by the fire the invading Anglo-French Joint Forces set to it in 1860, which lasted three days and nights. The remaining columns of the Eastern Buildings?and other ruins serve as a reminder of the barbarity as well as the fierce resistance then.

Xiangshan Park

Xiangshan Park was called Jingyi (Tranquillity) Park in ancient times. It is located in the southern side of the Temple of the Azure clouds at the foot of the Western Hills, northwest suburbs of Beijing. Xiangshan forms like a crescent moon, behind which the connected peaks from north, and south encircle a col of 6 square kilometers. The Xiangshan Park is built in this col.

It is a mountain forest park, which utilizes the natural environment with artificial embellishment. Every pavilion, terrace, tower, pagoda, hall, loft, hill stone is made suitable for the requirement of natural scenery. Beautiful environment of the nature and various buildings at different layers are made in accordance with each other beauty, appearing in very harmonious grace.

The red maples are the picturesque scenery known far and near. Every year after the frost descent (in the last ten days of October), a great tract of maples of more than 90 maple trees on the south-west slope of the mountain become red. Among which some leaves of pine, cypress, persimmon and white birch dot the scene, inlaying green and yellow with red like a natural embroidery.

In the middle of the slope of the northwest mountain of Xiangshan Park, there is a tablet on which the Emperor Qian Long of the Qing Dynasty inscribed "Fine day snow in the Western Mountains", one of the eight sights of old Beijing.

The Ming Tombs

The Ming Tombs are located in Changping district, about 50 kilometers to the northwest of Beijing city.

During the Ming Dynasty, there were 14 emperors from the Yongle Reign of Zhudi to the Chongzhen Reign of Zhuyoujian. 13 emperors had their tombs built there except Zhuqiyu (the Jingtai Reign) who was buried at Golden Mountain in the western suburbs of Beijing, hence the name of the Tombs of 13 Ming Emperors (The Ming Tombs). Covering an area of 40 hectares, the burial ground at its entrance has the Mangshan Hill (Snake Hill) on the left and the Huyu Hill (Tiger Hill) on the right, symbolizing the Tombs' Entrance Gate was guarded by the "Green Dragon" and the "White Tiger". Getting into the Mausoleum area, you first sight a stone archway which is the largest as well as the oldest extant one in China. Further down the pathway, stands the main gate (Dagong Gate) fronted by a stone tablet with the inscription of "All Persons Inclusive of Officials Dismount here!" Inside the Dagong Gate lies, south to north, a 750-meter-long road known as the Shandao (Sacred Way), lined with 36 vivid stone statues of Men and Animals (in 18 pairs) and 9 groups of 4 same statues each (two standing and two crouching). All statues were carved out of one single block of stone.

Among the 13 Ming Tombs, each located at the foot of a small hill, only the Tombs of Changling and Dingling are open to public at present.

Encompassing an area of 10 hectares, Changling, the tomb for Emperor Zhudi and his wife lies at the foot of Tianshoushan (the Mountain of Heavenly Longevity). It comprises three courtyards with Changling Hall, or the Lingsi Hall on par with Taihe Hall (Hall of Supreme Harmony) of the Palace Museum, Dacheng Hall of Confucius Temple in Qufu of Shangdong Province and Tiankuang Hall of Dai Temple at the foot of Taishan. The Changling Hall covers an area of 1956.44 square meters, that surpassing that of the Taihe Hall (Hall of Supreme Harmony). It is supported by 60 precious columns, each made of a whole trunk of nanmu and remaining intact without any protection after 500 years.

Dingling, the mausoleum of Emperor Zhuyijun of the Ming Dynasty and his two empresses Xiaoduan and Xiaojing is located at the foot of Dayu Mountain. Lying 27 meters below the surface and covering an area of 1195 square meters, the Underground Palace is composed of 5 Chambers: the Front, the Middle, and the Rear Chambers, Left and Right Annex Chambers. The Rear Chamber, 9.5 meters high, 30.1 meters long and 9.1 meters wide is the largest. In the Chamber, the coffin of Emperor Zhuyijun is placed on the middle of the stone couch, with his two wives' coffins on each side. Over 3000 pieces of historical relics were unearthed from the Underground Palace. Among them, the Gold Crown and the Phoenix Crown are the unique treasures.

China’s Visa Policy Threatens Olympics Tourism

BEIJING ― The plush lobby of Beijing's Kerry Center Hotel is usually crowded with foreign guests, many of them listening to jazz and sipping martinis in Centro, the hotel's fashionable bar, or lining up for taxis after dinner at the Horizon restaurant.
But Thursday evening, Centro had only a sprinkling of guests in a hotel whose occupancy rate is typically close to 100 percent this time of year. That night, the duty manager, said it was 63 percent.

"Something strange has been going on," said Sun Yin, the duty manager. "I really don't know what happened."

With the Beijing Olympics less than two months away, hotel operators, travel agencies, and foreign businessmen say new Chinese visa restrictions are proving bad for business, casting a pall over Beijing during what was supposed to be a busy and jubilant tourist season leading up to the Olympic Games.

Chinese authorities acknowledged putting new visa restrictions in place in May ― after foreign embassies reported fewer visas being granted and tighter, sometimes seemingly arbitrary, restrictions. The government did not release guidelines detailing the changes in policy; it often does not. But a foreign ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said in May that they would be temporary.

On Monday, Hu Bin, a visa official at the foreign ministry, said the ministry had no statistics on the number of visa denials, but that the new policies were put in place for "security considerations."


Travel business analysts had forecast that the Games would bring 500,000 foreign visitors and an extra $4.5 billion in revenue to Beijing this summer. But now, even though some five-star hotels are fully booked for the Olympics, many economists are beginning to doubt the city will get the kind of economic windfall it was hoping for.

Many hotels in Beijing are struggling to find guests; some large travel agencies have temporarily closed branches; and people scheduled to travel here for seminars and conferences are canceling. The number of foreign tourists visiting Beijing fell sharply in May, dropping by 14 percent, according to the city's statistics bureau.

Beijing residents, meanwhile, are complaining that heightened security measures could spoil what was supposed to be Beijing's long anticipated coming-out party. Despite years of careful preparation ― including teaching taxi drivers English and instructing locals in how to wait in a line (not common here), and spending billions on mammoth building projects for these Games ― Beijing is starting to appear less welcoming to foreigners.

"Business is so bleak," said Di Jian, the sales manager at the Capital Hotel in Beijing. "Since May, very few foreigners have checked in. Our occupancy rate has dropped by 40 percent."

Many other cities in China are also feeling the pain of fewer tourists, including Shanghai, where some hotels say occupancy rates are down 15 to 20 percent.

The government has publicized its determination to combat possible threats to the Games, including suicide bombings, bus hijackings and chemical attacks. In April, Interpol warned that a terrorist attack during the Beijing Olympics is a "real possibility." And in a year plagued by riots in Tibet, protests of the Olympic torch relay, a terrorist plot to kidnap journalists covering the Olympics (according to Beijing officials) and the Sichuan earthquake, the government is stressing public safety above all else.

But Beijing appears to be less concerned about hosting a global party and more concerned with making sure no one spoils it. Officials announced Thursday that 100,000 commandos, police and army troops would be placed on high alert during the Games.

The heightened sense of alert over security threats in the capital has done something else too: it has spawned a huge number of rumors about other actions the government may or may not be taking.

Among them: a border region with North Korea has been closed to prevent security risks; foreign students and migrant workers are being asked to leave Beijing during the Olympics; all volunteers need to register with the police; bars will be forced to close early; and all outdoor parties planned for the three-week-long Olympic celebration have been banned, putting the hex on some of the entertaining events that had been planned for the Games.

The Beijing police and security officials denied some of the reports, but also, at times, insisted in telephone interviews last week that they could not disclose some security matters. Poor official communication about regulations and restrictions in Beijing may be contributing to public uncertainty and feeding the rumor mill. Nothing is more of an obstacle than the new visa policy. Businessmen, particularly from the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan, have complained that new visa restrictions have prevented business meetings from taking place and crimped deal making.

Many Hong Kong-based businessmen, for example, say new visa rules require frequent and complicated applications, often including proof of a hotel booking, round-trip airline tickets, and in some cases, a letter of invitation.

"It's kind of draconian," said Richard Vuylsteke, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, which represents American companies doing business in the region. "But politics and security trump economics, especially during the Olympics. We just hope that after the Olympics things will change."

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in Beijing has also complained to China's foreign ministry.

Chinese hotel operators are also frustrated. A hotel construction boom in which the number of four- and five-star hotels in Beijing jumped from about 64 in 2001 to 161 as of the end of April, according to government figures, is beginning to look overly optimistic. Many hotels are still under construction in a city that now has over 5,000 hotels.

Hotel operators also say the earthquake and Olympic torch relay protests may be having an impact on tourism. "Usually May and June are the busy season for our hotel," said Jiang Zhiqiang, a spokesman for the New Otani Changfugong Hotel in Beijing. "This year is quite unusual. I think several natural and man-made disasters happened subsequently, which hurt our business."

With the opening ceremony of the Olympics just seven weeks away, only 44 percent of the rooms in four star hotels and 77 percent of five-star hotel rooms are booked, according to the Beijing Tourist Bureau.

If visitors cannot get visas to enter the country, many of those hotels may be forced to slash rates, which had jumped as high as $2,000 a night when prospects were brighter.

In some ways, the hotels are also on the front lines of the security crackdown. They typically share lists of their guests with the government, on a daily basis. But now they are being asked to supply photographs of all their employees too, as well as help the government in visa approvals, some hotel managers said.

Many large tourism agencies have already given up. "Now most of my colleagues for inbound tourism don't come to work," said Wang Ge, director of the inbound tourism department at the Beijing Tourism Group. "We have no clients this month."

Indeed, when an American called the China Travel Guide Tourist Agency last week, a sales clerk even discouraged the person from visiting Beijing during the Olympics.

"You really don't want to go there," said Lorna Liu, the sales representative at China Travel Guide. "Why don't you try Xi'an or Shanghai and visit Beijing a little later?"

-Ends-

Behai Park

Beihai (North Lake) Park, named in conjunction with Middle Lake and South Lake, is situated to the west of the Palace Museum and Jingshan Park in Beijing. It covers a total area of over 68 hectares. More than half of it is taken up by the lake. The Park, broad in scale and elegantly arranged, is a beautiful imperial garden in Beijing as well as a masterpiece of ancient Chinese gardens still standing.

The main scenic spots of Beihai Park consist of three parts. The southern part comprises mainly the Round City, the middle part, the Yong an(Eternal Peace) Temple, White Dagoba and Yuexin Palace on Qionghua Islet and the northern part, the Five Dragon Pavilions, the small Sukhavati Garden and Jingxinzhai (Heart-ease Study).

The Qionghua Islet lies on the southern part of Taiye Lake, with its constructions in total harmony with the Hill terrain and shrouded in green pines and cypresses. In the south there are Yongan Temple, Falun (Wheel of the Law) Hall and the Zhengjue Hall. The Islet links with the shore by a marble bridge in the southeast. With the picturesque Jingshan Park and the splendid Palace Museum standing close by, they enhance each other beauty. Amid the greenness, stands a tablet with an inscription by Emperor Qianlong, of "Qiongdaochunyin" (Spring Shade of Jade Islet) in Qing Dynasty. It's one of the eight famous sights in ancient Beijing. At the northern foot of the Hill and by the lakeside, lies a 60-bay and 2-storeyed corridor, resembling a colorful ribbon tied around the waist of Qionghua Islet. Travelling among the grotesque rocks and through the deep, cool and secluded caves, one moment you come out halfway up the Hill, and another moment, you are down at the bottom, mesmerized by the uncanny creation. The upside down reflections of the buildings on the Hill and the corridor upon the lake are picturesque.

The Round City standing among the Palace Museum, Jingshan Park, Zhongnan Lake and Beihai Lake, enjoys the reputation of being "A City within Beijing City". It is covered by luxuriant pines and cypresses and the buildings with glazed tiles and red walls. It has become a beautiful scenic spot in Beijing.

Imperial Palace

The Imperial Palace, also known as the Forbidden City or "Gugong", was the imperial residence and center of the kingdom during the reign of 24 emperors. 14 in the Ming and 10 in the Qing dynasty resided and ruled from this palace for 491 years until Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing dynasty and of China. It is now the largest and best preserved ancient architecture in China.
Located in the center of Beijing, the Imperial Palace covers an area of 72 hectares. Rectangular in shape, it runs 960 meter long from north to south. And 750 meter wide extended from east to west. There is a 10-meter high wall, encircled by a 52-meter wide moat.

The palace boasts more than nine thousand rooms, with layout following strict feudal code. The palace is divided into two main sections:- the Front Palace and the Inner palace. In the center of the Front Palace stand the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Complete Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. The Inner Palace includes the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Prosperity, the Hall of Earthly Peace and the Imperial Garden.

There are four gates at each corners of the walls:- The Meridian Gate to the south, the Gate of Divine Military Genius to the north, the East Flowery Gate to the east and the West Flowery Gate to the west. The Gate of Divine Military Genius was the gate connecting the imperial palace with the market area to the north of the palace. It is the largest gate of the Forbidden City, 35.6 meters high and surmounted by five pavilions. The central pavilion is rectangular in shape, while the other four, two on each side are square and hence the nickname is "The Five Phoenix Tower"

The Meridian Gate was so named because the Chinese emperors believed that they lived in the center of the universe, and the Meridian Line went through the Forbidden City.

A pair of bronze lions guards the Gate of Supreme Harmony, symbolizing the imperial power. In China, lions were supposed to be good doorkeepers and put at the gate to ward off evil spirits. Lions are frequently seen in front of buildings as guardians, one playing with a ball (male) and the other a cub (female). It was considered auspicious. The ball is said to represent imperial treasury or peace. The cub sucks milk from underneath the claw, because the female doesn't have breast.

The hall of Supreme Harmony is 35 meter high, 60 meter wide and 33 meter on both sides. It is now the largest, best preserved wooden hall in China. Twenty-four pillars support the roof. The Central six are gilded and painted red. The Emperor throne, which is surrounded by art treasures of symbolic significance, is in the middle of the hall.

Above the throne is gold painted caisson, or coffer ceiling, with dragon designs, from which hangs a spherical pearl called The Xu Anyuan mirror?

Three flights of marble steps leads up to the terrace In the middle of the central flight is a huge carving in the design of Dragons playing with pearls over which the emperors sedan chairs were carried. At the east corner of the terrace is a sundial, and at the west corner stands a small temple in which the grain measure was kept. The sundial and grain measure is both symbols of rectitude and fairness.

Behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony, between the stairways, is a huge one-piece marble carving of Dragons playing with pearls? This marble was brought here all the way from Fang Shan District, about 70 km away from Beijing City proper. It is about 17 meters long, 3 meters wide and 1.7 meters thick, weighing about 250 tons. Without any modern means of transportation, you can imagine how difficult it was for the Chinese laborer to transport such a huge piece of stone here!

Facing the Gate of Imperial Supremacy in the Hall of Jewelry is the famous Nine Dragon Screen, the best of its kind and the biggest in China. The main body of the screen was engraved with nine huge dragons. Each dragon is playing with a jewelry ball, each with different unique appearance. The dragons were painted with different colors with three dimension visual appearance and were handcrafted with highest skill of workmanship. It is truly the most beautiful piece of art.
The Imperial Palace is the largest museum in China; it preserves more than 900,000 priceless antiques covering all dynasties of Chinese history. It has been recognized as the biggest and most important treasury house of Chinese culture and arts in the world.

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square


The Tiananmen Square on the north to south axis is at the center of Beijing city. It's the largest square in the world, encompassing an area of 14 hectares, and measuring 865 meters north to south, and 500 and 370 meters east to west on the northern and southern ends respectively.
The Five-Star Red Flag flutters high above the mid-point of the square's north side. Everyday, at dawn and dusk, the Guards march in unison to the foot of the flagstaff to hoist or lower the National Flag, saluted with eyes by the on-lookers.

The Monument to the People's Heroes towers over the center of the square. To its south lies Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall. The Chinese Revolutionary Museum and the Chinese History Museum stand to the east of the square, the Great Hall of the People to the west and the magnificent Heavenly Peace Gate Tower to the north. The Tower is adjoined on its left side by the Zhongshan Park and on the right side by the Working People's Palace of Culture. Opposite the tower in the far south is the Zhengyang Gate Tower. These fine and unique buildings arranged in perfect harmony add greater beauty and grandeur to the Tiananmen Square.
The Tiananmen Square is the people's square, where grand state ceremonies are held on important occasions.

Beijing History

Though it lies north of the traditional Han Chinese heartland, Beijing has been at the center of China's cultural and political life for the better part of seven centuries. The city gained its prominence in the 13th century AD when it was established by Mongol ruler Kublai Khan as capital of the Yuan Dynasty under the names Khanbaliq (Mongolian for "grand home of the Khan") and Dadu ("great capital"). It was this metropolis that impressed Marco Polo, whose tales of his time in the court of the Khan inspired generations of European explorers to seek better trade routes to the East.

The archeological record shows human settlement in the Beijing area long before Kublai Khan―as early as the 11th century BC. By the 8th century AD, the Yan Kingdom established its capital of Yanjing in the area, giving way after the Warring States Period to the Qin Dynasty, which united China in 221 BC. The Qin, whose capital was Xiangyang near today's Xian, demoted the Yan capital to a regional seat of government. For centuries after, the city, then known as Jicheng, remained a center of trade and governance and a military outpost defending China from aggressive northern tribes. In 938 AD the northern Liao Dynasty established a second capital in Beijing, which they called Nanjing (Southern Capital). The Liao built the first city walls, which were expanded by the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, who made it their capital in 1153, calling it Zhongdu (Middle Capital).

After Genghis Khan's Mongols destroyed the Jin, razing their capital, his son, Kublai, established Dadu, whose basic layout remains in present-day Beijing. From his capital Kublai ruled the largest empire the world has ever seen. However, it wasn't until Ming Dynasty ruler Yongle (1403-1425) showed up that the prominent landmarks of today's Beijing made the scene. Yongle, an ethnic Han Chinese, leveled all Yuan Dynasty buildings, determined to erase all traces of Mongol rule over China, and initiated construction of the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. Yongle also gave the city a new name: Beijing (Northern Capital).

As the capital of imperial China for the next 586 years, Beijing witnessed wars, corrupt Emperors and Empresses, foreign attacks (the British and French in 1860) and rebellions (the Boxers in 1900, for one). It also presided over prosperous times and the cultivation of arts, scholarship, philosophy and religion. As the Qing (1644-1911) decayed at the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth, ceding territory to Western colonial powers and Japan, Beijing became a center of political agitation as nationalist students demonstrated against Qing corruption and in favor of modernizing China. The city fell into turmoil after the fall of the Qing, changing hands repeatedly during 1911 and 1912.

From 1912 to 1927, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hankou alternated as centers of government. Students and other reform-minded nationalist Chinese continued to work for a modernized China, with the May Fourth Movement emerging from 1919 protests against the transference of Germany's Chinese concessions to the Japanese in the wake of World War I. This dissent would continue, feeding into the Communist movement and, eventually, the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

The end of World War II brought the abolition of all foreign concessions in the city and the the end of the Japanese occupation that began in 1937, and Beijing was restored to Chinese sovereignty. After four more years of civil war the Communists emerged victorious, and on October 1, 1949 in Tian'anmen Square Mao Zedong proclaimed Beijing the capital of the People's Republic of China. As previous rulers had often done, Mao made a symbolic break with the previous order by reinventing the capital. Between 1965 and 1969, the old city wall was torn down. Hundreds of temples and monuments were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), and old neighborhoods were leveled to broaden boulevards and enlarge Tian'anmen Square.

The upheaval of the Cultural Revolution ended with Mao's death in 1976, and in the transitional years that followed, China began opening its economy under Deng Xiaoping. Along with economic changes, many Chinese began to look for increased freedom of expression and broader political reform. Beijing students took the lead, challenging the status quo with the Democracy Wall in 1978-1979 and a decade later with the protests that culminated in the tragic 1989 Tian'anmen Square face-off between the People's Liberation Army and demonstrators. Deng's economic reforms have continued under subsequent leadership, fueling China's epic economic boom.