Tiananmen Square in the context of "National People's Congress"

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⭐ Core Definition: Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square (/ˈtjɛnənmən/) is a city square in the city center 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 Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. They were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2024 as a part of the Beijing Central Axis.

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 m or 53.31 acres). It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.

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👉 Tiananmen Square in the context of National People's Congress

The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Per the principle of unified power, the NPC heads China's unified state apparatus, and per the division of labour of state organs all state organs from the State Council to the Supreme People's Court (SPC) are accountable to it. With 2,977 members in 2023, it is the largest legislative body in the world. The NPC is elected for a term of five years. It holds annual sessions every spring, usually lasting from 10 to 14 days, in the Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Under China's Constitution, the NPC is structured as a unicameral legislature, with the power to amend the Constitution, legislate and oversee the operations of the government, and elect the major officers of the National Supervisory Commission, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Central Military Commission, and the state. Since Chinese politics functions within a communist state framework based on the system of people's congress, the NPC works under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Some observers characterize the branch as a rubber stamp body. Most delegates to the NPC are officially elected by local people's congresses at the provincial level, local legislatures which are indirectly elected at all levels except the county-level. The CCP controls the nomination and election processes at every level in the people's congress system.

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Tiananmen Square in the context of Founding of the People's Republic of China

The proclamation of the People's Republic of China was made by Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), on October 1, 1949, in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The government of a new state under the CCP, formally called the Central People's Government, was proclaimed by Mao at the ceremony, which marked the foundation of the People's Republic of China.

Previously, the CCP had proclaimed the establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) within the discontinuous territories of China they controlled, on November 7, 1931, in Ruijin. The CSR had lasted seven years until it was abolished in 1937.

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Tiananmen Square in the context of National Museum of China

The National Museum of China is an art and history museum located on the eastern side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The National Museum of China has a total construction area of about 200,000 square meters, a collection of more than 1.4 million items, and 48 exhibition halls. It is the museum with the largest single building area in the world and the museum with the richest collection of Chinese cultural relics. It is a level-1 public welfare institution funded by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

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Tiananmen Square in the context of Great Hall of the People

The Great Hall of the People is a state building situated to the west of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. It is used for legislative and ceremonial activities by the government of China. The People's Great Hall functions as the meeting place for the full sessions of China's legislature, the National People's Congress, which occurs every year during March along with the national session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body. The Great Hall is also the meeting place of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which, since the 12th conference in 1982, has occurred once every five years, and the party's Central Committee which meets approximately once a year.

The Hall is also used for many special events, including national level meetings of various social and political organizations, large anniversary celebrations, as well as the memorial services for former leaders. The Great Hall of the People is also a popular attraction in the city frequented by tourists visiting the capital.

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Tiananmen Square in the context of 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre

The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between the demonstrators and the Chinese government to find a peaceful resolution, the Chinese government deployed troops to occupy the square on the night of 3 June in what is referred to as the Tiananmen Square massacre. The events are sometimes called the '89 Democracy Movement, the Tiananmen Square Incident, or the Tiananmen uprising.

The protests were precipitated by the death of pro-reform Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Hu Yaobang in April 1989 amid the backdrop of rapid economic development and social change in post-Mao China, reflecting anxieties among the people and political elite about the country's future. Common grievances at the time included inflation, corruption, limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy, and restrictions on political participation. Although they were highly disorganised and their goals varied, the students called for things like rollback of the removal of iron rice bowl jobs, greater accountability, constitutional due process, democracy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. Workers' protests were generally focused on inflation and the erosion of welfare. These groups united around anti-corruption demands, adjusting economic policies, and protecting social security. At the height of the protests, about one million people assembled in the square.

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Tiananmen Square in the context of Beijing Legation Quarter

The Peking Legation Quarter was the area in Beijing (Peking), China where a number of foreign legations were located between 1861 and 1959. In the Chinese language, the area is known as Dong Jiaomin Xiang (simplified Chinese: 东交民巷; traditional Chinese: 東交民巷; pinyin: Dōng Jiāomín Xiàng), which is the name of the hutong (lane or small street) through the area. It is located in the Dongcheng District, immediately to the east of Tiananmen Square.

The Legation Quarter was the location of the 55-day siege of the International Legations, which took place during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. After the Boxer Rebellion, the Legation Quarter was under the jurisdiction of foreign countries with diplomatic legations in the quarter. The foreign residents were exempt from Chinese law. The Legation Quarter attracted many diplomats, soldiers, scholars, artists, tourists, and Sinophiles. World War II effectively ended the special status of the Legation Quarter, and with the Great Leap Forward and other events in postwar Chinese history, most of the European-style buildings of the Legation Quarter were destroyed.

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Tiananmen Square in the context of Merdeka Square, Jakarta

Merdeka Square (Indonesian: Medan Merdeka or Lapangan Merdeka lit. "independence Square"; formerly Dutch: Koningsplein, lit. "King's Square") is a large square located in the center of Jakarta, Indonesia. Measuring approximately one square kilometer in area, if the surrounding fields within the Merdeka Square are included, it is considered one of the largest squares in the world. At 100 hectares, it is over two times the size of Tiananmen Square, and 8 times the size of Place de la Concorde.

At its center stands the National Monument, often called Monas (Monumen Nasional). The paved plaza surrounds the monument often host national events such as military and float parades, as well as civic demonstrations. Surrounding the Monument is now a park with a musical fountain in western side, and a deer enclosure where deer roam among the shady trees in the southeast corner. The square is a popular destination for Jakartans for sports and recreation especially on weekends.

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