Tiananmen

Located right across the street from Tiananmen Square, this National Symbol is frequently used in China. If you watched the Summer Olympics in Beijing back in 2008, it would have been pretty hard not to see this sight. Typically, there's a mob of tourists walking around, but when I first visited back in 2009, it was fenced off due to celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China. If you can, I'd avoid traveling in China during the founding anniversary as things get a bit chaotic, and even if you successfully hail a taxi, getting the driver to take you to your destination can be extremely difficult as they often refuse if it's not the same place they want to go.

Portrait of Mao Zedong hanging in Tiananmen, Beijing, China.