Tiananmen

T1I1A1N1A1N1M3E1N1
/ˈtʰjɛnˈɑnˈmʌn/

proper noun

A gate near the Forbidden City, Beijing, China.

Less commonScrabble 11

Meanings

proper noun

alternative Tian'anmen · alternative Tienanmen · alternative T'ien-an-men · alternative T'ienanmen · alternative T'ien-an Men

  1. A gate near the Forbidden City, Beijing, China.

    His May 30, 1989, photo captured the “Goddess of Democracy,” the students’ version of the Statue of Liberty, facing the portrait of Communist China’s first leader, Mao Zedong, on the massive Tiananmen gate.

    2019 June 1, Krysta Fauria, Christopher Bodeen, “‘Tank man’ photographer urges China to open up on Tiananmen”, in AP News, archived from the original on 01 Dec 2021
    4 more examples

    In 1966, Mao sanctioned the start of the Cultural Revolution, a campaign against entrenched party interests and "capitalist-roaders" that brought China to the brink of civil war and ruined lives and careers. All the while, he nurtured a personality cult. People carried around his "Little Red Book" of quotations; Mao thought was studied in schools, and his portrait hung on the Tiananmen gate in front of the former imperial palace. It hangs there still.

    1993 December 27, Steven Mufson, “CHINA MARKS CENTENARY OF MAO'S BIRTH”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2023

    Like many Beijing landmarks - the Gate of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Literary Glory, the Hall of Martial Valour - Tiananmen's name, "The Gate of Heavenly Peace", is abstract and absolute, an appellation bequeathed by Mao Zedong, "The Great Helmsman," whose cult still lives on in his mausoleum in the square, and in the sale of kitsch Maomorabilia.

    2006, Philip Dodd, Ben Donald, The Book of Cities, New York (printed in China): MJF Books, →ISBN, page 241

    “Today the socialist China stands tall in the world’s east,” Mr Xi, 66, told cheering crowds from Tiananmen Gate as he delivered a speech invoking the “Chinese dream” of national rejuvenation from the rostrum where Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

    2019 October 1, Didi Tang, “Hong Kong shooting blights Beijing’s big day”, in The Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2021

    FILE PHOTO: A Union flag and a Chinese flag on a pole with security cameras in front of a portrait of late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong at the Tiananmen gate, during a visit to China by the then British prime minister, Theresa May, in Beijing, January 31, 2018.

    2020 September 15, “Britain warns it citizens of risk of arbitrary detention in China”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 16 Sep 2020, China
  2. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of Tiananmen Square.

    Despite a ban on vigils by Beijing, Hong Kong residents found ways to remember the massacre that took place in Tiananmen 32 years ago.

    2021 June 4, Amanda Rivkin, “Hong Kong marks Tiananmen anniversary — in pictures”, in Deutsche Welle, archived from the original on 04 Jun 2021, News
    2 more examples

    Jiang Zemin has almost managed to make the event disappear down an Orwellian memory hole. Even in Western countries, sub-editors have taken to calling it the ‘Tiananmen crackdown’, rather than ‘massacre’, making it seem as insignificant as the endless stories about routine ‘crackdowns’ on smuggling, prostitution, counterfeit goods, VAT forms or corruption, which provide the stuff of daily reporting here in China.

    2001, Jasper Becker, ‘‘Comrade Jiang Zemin does indeed seem a proper choice’, London Review of Bookshttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v23/n10/jasper-becker/comrade-jiang-zemin-does-indeed-seem-a-proper-choice, vol. 23, no. 10

    The parade will feature more than 10,000 Chinese troops who will pass by the rostrum at Tiananmen as close to 200 military aircraft fly overhead.

    2015 August 25, Chris Buckley, “China Shares an Eclectic Guest List for World War II Parade”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 Nov 2022

Origin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 天安門/天安门 (Tiān'ānmén), literally "the gate of Heaven's peacemaking" or conventionally: "the gate of heavenly peace", without syllable-dividing mark (隔音符號/隔音符号 (géyīn fúhào)).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 天安門 /天安门
  • 天安門 /天安门 (Tiān'ānmén)gate
German Tor des Himmlischen Friedens
  • Tor des Himmlischen Friedensgate
Japanese 天安門
  • 天安門 (Ten'anmon)gate
Korean 천안문
  • 천안문 (Cheonanmun)gate
Russian Тяньаньмэ́нь
  • Тяньаньмэ́нь (Tjanʹanʹmɛ́nʹ)gate
Vietnamese Thiên An Môn
  • Thiên An Môngate

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

Tiananmen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tiananmen

MLA

“Tiananmen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tiananmen. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Tiananmen,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tiananmen.

Source: Tiananmen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.