Seeing Chairman Mao: Thursday, May 17th

We woke up early this morning because if we wanted to see Chairman Mao’s body we had to be there early so we could get in line. I didn’t know what to expect but what we did experience, I definitely did not expect. When we got to Tianaman Square, everyone, all the tourist groups, were running to get in line. Why? Because about 15,000 were trying to get in this line. We were mushed into this gigantic line, the biggest one I have ever been in. It surprisingly moved very fast, all 15,000 of us trotted along together so we could all see the dead body of Chairman Mao on display. The line was also fun because if was full of tourists groups that consisted on a bunch of old people all wearing a bright yellow or red hat. They liked to stare and smile at us and we liked to stare and smile at them.After about 45 minutes of trotting in line, we were ushered through security and then finally made it inside. The body was not very exciting but all the Chinese treated him like a God.

I sadly don't have any pictures because you couldn't get in line with a camera.  Here is a picture of Tianaman Square from the Museum: