The administration committee of Tiananmen Square denied the rumor that it will begin charging tourists after being listed as one of China's revolutionary sights, a Beijing based newspaper reported Tuesday.

The rumor derived from an interview with an official of Beijing Municipal government.

Ding Xiangyang, the official, told reporters previously that the Beijing government is "studying Tiananmen Square's site planning," because it was recently selected as China's revolutionary sights. But he did not give exact information on the charging issue.

"A square's nature is to open free to people," said an expert declined to be named, "Those famous squares in other countries are all free of charge. It sounds ridiculous to collect money from visitors of Tiananmen Square."

"Our operation procedure is to submit the administration advice to the Beijing Municipal government first, and then to the State Council for final approval," Lin Bingkui, an official with the committee was quoted by China Times as saying, "It is not that easy to make a decision such as charging fee or not."

Between the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Tiananmens Suare was the scene of many demonstrations. One of the most famous was that which took place on May Fourth 1919 protesting a provision in the Treaty of Versailles which handed former German Concession in China to Japan instead of returning it to China.

It was also here that Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2005)