The power of the Communist Party finds expression in this esplanade, the largest in the world (easily capable of holding one million people), a megalomaniac creation of Mao in the 1950s. It is adorned with several monuments glorifying the founders of the People's Republic of China, not least the Great Helmsman himself. In 1989, Tiananmen Square became the bloody symbol of democratic aspiration; the flag-raising ceremony continues to take place every day at dawn.