Tiananmen Square before 1950 looking from the Forbidden City to south

Originally shared by +All Things Chinese



The premises was structured 600 years ago, by then the square only included the section of Chang"an Avenue before the Golden Stream Bridges.

The space between the avenue and the Great Ming Gate in the south was a broad walkway (no horse or saden allowed expected emperor"s passage and empress"s passage during her wedding day); at the both sides of the walkway there were two rows of verandas with guards standing before a post every few metres; behind the verandas were bungalows which were the government offices. And it was these people working in these bungalows managing the country, not the emperor. The emperor was only the final decision maker on the important issues such as war, famine and appointment of ministerial positions. And his decision might be rejected by the cabinet. It was actually a system of constitutional monarchy.

Of course, the things became quite differently when Manchus from Tunguska invaded and ruled China in the middle of the 17th century, because they followed their own tribe tradition in which a chieftain exercised the military-style authoritarian rule, and the bungalows were demolished.