New Statue & a Revived Museum for Tiananmen Square

While the Great Helmsmen has long cast a wry eye over China’s symbolic center, since last week Tiananmen Square has had a new set of eyes keeping watch over the space. A “9.5-meter bronze statue” of Confucius now sits outside the National Museum of China on the eastern edge of the square, signaling the museum’s imminent re-opening after four years of renovation.

According to People’s Daily the massive reconstruction of the National Museum’s interior cost RMB 2.5 billion. Needless to say, in a country where size always matters, the institution is “Believed to be the world’s world's largest national museum, with a floor space of nearly 200,000 square meters, and more than 1 million national treasures in its permanent collection.”

Although the Confucius statue was unveiled last week, the museum is currently scheduled to re-open in March. Watch this space for more information as it comes to hand.