Tian'anmen Square

Today Qianmen, the gate at the southern end of Tian'anmen Square ("Place of Heavenly Peace") marks the site of a boundary line drawn within the city by its cautious potentates. On one side is representative showiness: boulevards run in the traditional north-south direction, as well as newer avenues that cut through a sea of houses, broad streets like Dongchang'an Jie which Mao ordered built along an east-west axis.