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Before arriving in Beijing we could see from the train the white frozen fields in the early morning. This looked very much like a Dutch winter morning.

Beijing

Cora
2004-02-22 15:41:34

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Before arriving in Beijing we could see from the train the white frozen fields in the early morning. This looked very much like a Dutch winter morning. It was now 7:15 and the last time we would see a Chinese train station. In spite of the cold it was dry and sunny; ideal to walk around the city of Beijing.

Some 690.000 years ago, in Zhoukodian, 48 kilometres southwest of Beijing, lived the Peking man or Homo Pekinensis.
It was here that in 1045 BC a small town arose. This town became the second capital of the Liao Dynasty (907-1125 AD). From that moment on the town was also the capital of the Jin dynasty, the Yuan, the Ming, and the Qing Dynasty until 1911. Early 20’s Beijing became the cradle of China's new democratic revolution. The May 4 Movement against imperialism and feudalism started here in 1919. October 1 1949 Chairman Mao announced the establishment of the People's Republic of China in Beijing.

Tiananmen Square

Feeling better after an hour of sleep and a hot shower, we went into town to discover as much as we could of all wonders that Beijing had to offer.
We could no longer retain our curiosity and had to see Tiananmen Square – Square of Heavenly Peace – first! Such wideness! And such neatness too. It is so hard to imagine the chaos that occurred here eleven years ago.

"As the night fell on June 3, 1989, 40,000 soldiers of the 27th Peoples Liberation Army moved into China's capital with orders to crush six weeks of demonstrations and protests by the country's students and workers, and end their demands for political change.
The exact number of dead that night was never known, but estimations go up to 7000, and more than 20.000 were said to be injured.
To this day the Chinese government justifies its actions with the same contemptible lie put forward at the time by the 85 year old "paramount leader" of Chinese Stalinism, ...