4:15 am Wake Up Call

This morning I did the unimaginable; I woke up before noon on a Sunday. My friend and I decided over hot chocolate late Saturday night that we were going to finally make the trek to the middle of Beijing; Tiananmen Square (天安门). Every morning at sunrise the world’s largest public plaza greets the day with the raising of the Chinese national flag. Chinese PLA soldiers march in synchronized squads to the tune of the Chinese national anthem as a 6am crowd of about 600 Chinese citizens looks on. All nearby roads are shut down for these few minutes.

The ceremony itself was more modest and the crowd much larger than I expected, considering how massive Tiananmen Square is and how early the ritual truly was. After the ritual, everyone dispersed and spread out all around the square.

That’s when I finally realized: there were no other foreigners in Tiananmen (my friend is American, but her parents are Chinese so most in China assume she is fluent in Mandarin).  People were not so discreetly taking pictures of me while my friend helped me snap a pic in front of the famed gate. In Beijing I am occasionally asked to be photographed, but this morning the experience was massively amplified. After I said it was ok for a couple to take a picture with me, the chaos began.

Chinese visitors were asking me to take a picture with their daughters, grandmothers, and husbands. When they asked me in English, I would respond in Chinese. Their pure shock and surprise with my ability to speak Chinese was priceless.  It was a great morning.

What would you do if you found yourself in the center of Beijing at 7am in the morning? Go see the pickled body of Chairman Mao ZeDong of course! After the CCP flag raising ceremony, we waited in the daunting line to see the preserved corpse of the Great Helmsman. Viewing hours are very limited; the Mao Memorial is only open in the morning a few days a week for a couple hours. It was serendipitous that we found ourselves in the middle of Beijing just before the viewing.

Security is unbelievable at Tiananmen; cameras, police (in uniforms and daywear) are everywhere you look. I had to walk across the street to lock my backpack in a cubby before I was allowed to even approach the Mao Monument. Nothing but a form of I.D. is allowed into the Mao Memorial, sorry for no pictures. The first thing we saw when entering the building of what I can only describe as a miniature replica of the Lincoln memorial, only instead of President Lincoln, it was Mao Zedong. For 5 Kuai (人民币) you can rent flowers to place next to the memorial, a lot of visitors participated.

The actual viewing of Mao Zedong was extremely rushed, we waited in line for an hour to see a 30 second viewing of the former Chinese leader. The security guards and police officers created a very fast, one on one, viewing of the Great Helmsmen; to pack the most people into the limited viewing time. Despite the rush, I appreciated being able to participate in an aspect of Chinese history.

All in all, it was one of the oddest, most fun days I have had in Beijing. It really is much more fun to explore aspects of a foreign country outside of what is in your guidebook.

I am a College of William and Mary student, but for one day, I felt like a true Beijinger.

Hopping back into bed by noon was great too.