Joe at 世纪广场

This photo was taken in 2008 at 世纪广场 in Jilin, China. 世纪广场 translates to Century Square. In this picture, Joe Deprey is skating under Chairman Mao. Joe was asked to stop skating so close to the dear Mao Ze Dong by a security guard. Mao appears on every denomination of currency in Mainland China.

Covered Chairman Mao

This photo was taken in 2009 at Century Square in Jilin, China. The normal skate spot had been largely walled off due to renovations to Chairman Mao's statue for the 60th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 2009. You can see the statue covered in red(of course!) fabric behind the wall. Century Square's Chairman Mao statue is relatively small compared with ones in other cities I have seen. One must wonder what Chairman Mao would have thought of skateboarding.

Tiananmen Square

This photo was taken in 2009 at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. Present day Tiananmen Square was the result of Chairman Mao's dream that Beijing be home to the largest meeting place in the world. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of The People's Republic of China, a number of important buildings were erected around Tiananmen between 1958 and 1959. These include The Monument to the People's Heroes on the southern side, The Great Hall of the People on the western side, and The Revolutionary History Museum, now called The National Museum of China, on the eastern side. The northern side of the square contains the gate to The Forbidden City.