As the world’s largest public square (and a major item on my Life List), we made a b-line to Tiananmen Square as soon as the sun was up on our first full day in Beijing.

Everything about the space was larger than life; the buildings, the monuments, the expansive area.

And the largest projections TV screens I’ve ever seen in person.

Not surprisingly there were hoards of people everywhere.

Most were tourists, but there were also scores of “photographers” (I use that word veeery lightly) mulling around, demanding to know if we too would like a photo taken.  Um, no.

We were perfectly capable of taking our own photos.

What was far more interesting (and goose-bump inducing), in my opinion, were the cameras not in the hands of the “photographers.”

That’s right, every single light-pole was monitoring our every movement. [We later found out that many “tourists” in and around the Square at any given time were actually plain-clothed government agents.] Talk about feeling watched.