More like the world's largest construction zone. Tiananmen is completely sealed off behind a two-meter blue fence. Walkways are being ripped apart, trenches dug. In imperial times the emperor passed this way, from his Forbidden City through the same Gate of Heavenly Peace pictured upon the red seal of every People's Republic emblem, to annual prayers at the Temple of Heaven. Now, cranes and trucks rule the site.
Workers scurry around in hard hats, through a pale cloud of construction dust filling the plaza.
The Monument to the People's Heroes is encased in bamboo scaffolding and green netting, looking like a Christo piece, Jolly Green Obelisk. Cranes and Red Army troops guard each entrance and discourage crowds. The authorities are understandably jittery. A few weeks ago, thousands of followers of the Falungong cult staged a silent protest right outside the leadership compound. Then, earlier this month, a U.S. missile strike on China's embassy in Belgrade set off perhaps the most vociferous anti-foreign protests since the Boxer Rebellion.