The interior of the Tian'anmen Gate Tower. [File photo: CNZOZO.com]

Decorating the tower

After Yang Dengyan informed the management office of Tian'anmen Gate Tower about the central government's approval, the staff workers began to decorate the tower.

In the past, Tian'anmen was used only to hold state ceremonies on special holidays, such as May Day, National Day and Spring Festival. With the exception of such occasions, it was more like a warehouse, stuffed with miscellaneous items like colored banners, lanterns and screens. Among these were four pairs of red lanterns each measuring 2.5 meters in diameter. They occupied an entire room.

The workers removed all these odds and ends. But how to decorate the spacious tower? The Beijing municipal government issued an instruction: The Tian'anmen Gate Tower should be decorated in the way it was during the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China.

Tables, sofas, teapots, clocks, screens... Everything was put in the place it had occupied on October 1, 1949.

Yang recalls that the preparation actually started much earlier. In 1984, the 35th anniversary of the People's Republic's founding, the management office had exchanged electric bulbs and soft white sofas for imperial lanterns and nanmu (a rare wood) armchairs to recapture the ancient atmosphere of the tower.

But when it came to 1987, a problem popped up: What painting should be put on the major wall of the main lobby? "It couldn't be too political," Yang Dengyan said, "but it couldn't be too informal either." The Tian'anmen Gate Tower had significant political connotations, but a painting of the People's Republic's founding ceremony was too formal. The management office therefore decided to hang a painting of the nation's magnificent landscape.

Yang Dengyan first invited Yin Shoushi, the most famous painter in modern China, to create a painting for the major wall. "The painting portrayed no specific landscapes, but it reflected the great power of our nation." After Yin Shoushi, other famous painters came to paint the screens in the lobby. They chose ponies, bamboos and clubs, all major cultural icons in China, as the subject of their paintings. These paintings combined to create an elegant atmosphere in the tower.

During the preparation, the workers did not neglect a single detail. The existing wool carpets were replaced by red fiber ones which could foster a solemn atmosphere and protect the brick floors of the old tower.

Opening to the public

Several times before the opening, Yang Dengyan discussed with Bo Xicheng how to celebrate the event. "We should keep a low profile, but a brief ceremony is necessary," Yang recalls their final decision.

On January 1, 1988, the Tian'anmen Gate Tower was officially opened to the public. A brief ribbon-cutting ceremony was held, but no state leaders were present.

On the morning of that day, Bo Xicheng brought two authentic cloisonné vases from the Beijing Hotel. Each of them was more than 30 centimeters tall. "They were gorgeous," Yang Dengyan remembers.