Shen Tong, '91: From Tiananmen to Brandeis and beyond
Alumni Achievement Award 2001
The Chinese pro-democracy movement electrified the world in the spring of 1989, but as early as 1986, Shen Tong '91 was involved in the movement on the national level. By 1988 he had emerged as a key organizer, having founded the Committee of Action, a human rights organization rapidly suppressed by the Chinese government. In 1989, Tong established the Olympic Institute that became a cornerstone of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations. The Institute, under Tong's guidance, established the first news center of the 1989 movement, publishing an independent newspaper and operating an independent radio news service. During the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, the Dialogue Delegation, co-founded by Tong, was the designated student group to initiate and maintain direct negotiations with Chinese government during the crisis.
Tong was able to escape from China one week after the demonstrations and was the first student leader to come to the United States, to attend Brandeis as a Wien Scholar. During his time at Brandeis he returned to China, only to be detained and imprisoned; with the assistance from Brandeis students who rallied and lobbied government officials on his behalf, his release was secured. He is among the 49 Chinese nationals living overseas who are publicly forbidden by the Chinese government to return to China because of their political views.
Tong's autobiography Almost a Revolution, published in 1990 by Houghton Mifflin, was described by Publishers Weekly as "a spiritual history of China's struggle for human rights...." He completed course work on his doctorate at Boston University, and is co-founder of Convergence Digital Media. The company has two divisions, one a film production company, and one a technical division that develops products for post production that unite media and the internet. He was chairman and CEO of the Democracy for China fund for nine years and continues as chairman of the board.
Tong was named one of Newsweek's Persons of the Year for 1989 and he continues to appear on television and radio and his thoughts appear in print media programs worldwide, both as an analyst, and a spokesperson for the Chinese democratic cause.