Built in 1420,the 18# reign year of Yongle of the Ming Dynasty,the Tian’anmen ornamental columns are important complements of Tian’anmen’s main structures,and its chinese name is 'huabiao'. The origin of 'huabiao' may be traced to remote antiquity. There was a sage king named YAO, who was said to set up a wooden pillar in order to allow the ordinary people to put forward there opinions.
With a height of 9.57 meters and a weight over 20,000 kilos,the columns are carved of white marble. There is a pair of ornamental columns in both front and back of Tian’anmen. On each ornamental column,there is a plate called Cheng Lu Pan for collecting dew,and a crouching animal called Hou, which is one of the nine sons of the dragon. Here it served as to watch over the emperor’s be havior. Whereever the emperor stay too long outside the palace,it would warn the emperor not to stay away too long outside,hurry back and take care of the state affairs. Therefore the pair of the stone animals sitting on ‘Huabiao’ in front of Tian’anmen facing south were given the name “wang jun gui” ,which in English expecting the emperor’s coming back. Another pair of ‘Huabiao’ is behind the Tian’anmen Gate.The stone animal facing to the Forbidden City warned that not to stay in palace too long and come out to get to know the sufferings of common people. Hence the name “wang jun chu” which in English expecting the emperor’s going out.
华表是中华民族的传统建筑物，有着悠久的历史。华表又称“谤木”，相传始于尧舜时代。最初这种“谤木”多竖立在交通要道，供人们写谏言，评论时政，同时也能起到路标作用，汉武帝时始称华表。后多设在桥梁、宫殿、城垣或陵墓前做为标志，并逐渐演变成为建筑物旁的装饰品。天安门内外、十三陵、北京大学都立有华表。
天安门前后各两座华表，每根华表由须弥座柱础、柱身和承露盘组成，通高为9.57米，重20000多公斤。在直径为98厘米带有层层回环不断的云朵石柱上，盘绕着一条巨龙，龙四足，无爪雕饰得卓约生动，跃然飞舞，可谓鳞角峥嵘，臂爪劲健，给人以玉龙翱游云天之感。在雕龙巨柱顶端，横叉着白石云翅，呈朵状。云翅上面是圆型承露盘，盘上有一蹲兽，名“望天”。天安门前的这对华表上都有一个蹲兽，头向宫外；天安门后的那对华表，蹲兽的头则朝向宫内，传说，这蹲兽名叫犼，性好望，犼头向内是希望帝王不要成天呆在宫内吃喝玩乐，希望他经常出去看望他的臣民，它的名字叫“望帝出”，犼头向外，是希望皇帝不要迷恋游山玩水，快回到皇宫来处理朝政，它的名字叫“望帝归”。可见华表不单纯是个装饰品，而是提醒古代帝王勤政为民的标志。在八角形汉白玉须弥座四面雕刻云龙，外面四周环绕白石雕花栏杆，栏杆四角柱头上，雕有四只憨态可掬的小石狮子，它们头朝的方向与“望天”的方向一致。亭亭玉立，造型精美的华表，是主体建筑天安门的极好装饰，使得天安门更加威严壮丽。
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