In front
of the Tiananmen Rostrum stands a pair of marble columns called Huabiao.
They are elaborately cut in bas-relief following the pattern of la legendary
dragon.
Behind the gate stands another pair of similar columns. The story of
Huabiao may be traced to a couple of sources.
Origin
One of the versions accredits its invention to one of the Chinese sage
kings named Yao, who was said to have set up a wooden pillar in order
to allow the ordinary people to expose evil-doers, hence it was originally
called a slander pillar. Later it was reduced to a signpost, and now
it serves as an ornament.
Beast sitting on the top of Hubiao
The beast sitting on the top of the column is called hou, a legendary
animal, which is said to have been a watcher of an emperors behavior.
He was doing such duties as warning the emperor against staying too
long outside the palace or indulging in pleasure and urging him to go
to the people for their complaints or return in due time. Therefore,
the two pairs of beasts were given the names wangjinghui (Expecting
the emperors coming back) and wangjunchu (Expecting the emperor
going out) respectively.
Zhongshan Park (Dr. sunyat-sens park)
On the Westside of Tiananmen, stands Zhongshan Park (Dr. sunyat-sens
park), The Park was formerly called Shejitan
(Altar of Land and Grain), built in 1420 for offering sacrificial
items to the God of Land. It was opened to the public as a park in 1914
and its name was changed to the present one in memory of the great pioneer
of Chinese Democratic Revolution in 1928.
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Huabiao in Tian'anmen Square