The classic approach to the Forbidden City is from Tian An Men Square in the south.
Tian An Men itself is the entrance gate to the old inner palace area, and it is also the foremost symbol of the modern Chinese state, found on the state seal and on the money.
And yes, Mao's portrait is still hanging over the central entrance.
On weekends thousands and thousands of people walk through the gate, tour groups with loudspeaker-toting guides, proud old men with their grandchildren, foreigners on the trip of a lifetime, lovers holding hands, school classes, groups of soldiers on their day off.
It's probably as colorful as the processions of officials and high dignitaries that went through this gate a hundred - or four hundred - years ago.
- Thomas Sturm's Homepage - The China Room -