Crowds of Chinese tourists gather outside the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China. The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, commonly known as the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong or the Mao Mausoleum, is the final resting place of Mao Zedong, chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943 and the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945 until his death in 1976. The mausoleum is located in the middle of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the capital of China. It stands on the previous site of the Gate of China, the southern (main) gate of the Imperial City during the Ming and Qing dynasties.