The Cold War ambience is enhanced by the silly buildings surrounding the square. There is the massive, and massively ugly, hall where the National People's Congress meets, a very large memorial where Chairman Mao's body is displayed in a mausoleum, and a museum about the Communist Revolution. In the center of the square, and the only object interrupting the sea of stone, is the nondescript Monument to the People's Heroes. We had planned on visiting Mao, but as you can see in the photo, the line was about a mile long, not atypical in a country of 1.3 billion people. Maybe next time.