Tiananmen Square is so big that it creates a kind of optical illusion. Most buildings around it are extremely large and when you first stand on it, it appears much smaller than it actually is. You start somewhere, like the Quianmen Metro station and walk past the Mao Zedong mausoleum. To the left you see the main entrance of the Great Hall of the People. You keep on walking towards Tianamen. After walking a considerable time, you take another look left, expecting the entrance to be exactly left of you. But - it is still way ahead. Then you realize that you are not used to a square that is over 500 meters wide and more than 800 meters long. With 440000 square meters, it is as big as Vatican City.