Shen Tong
Encyclopedia
Shen Tong is a Chinese
dissident
who was one of the student
leaders in the democracy movement at Tiananmen Square in 1989
One of the People of the Year by Newsweek 1989, Shen Tong became a media and software entrepreneur in late 1990s. He serves on the board of Poets & Writers
.
from 1986 to 1989, and became one of the student leaders during the 1989 protest in Tiananmen Square
. He lives in New York City, and has two daughters and a son. His father and sister Shen Qing
both went to Peking University
, and his mother is a medical doctor.
, which makes software tools and web applications for multimedia and multilingual search, media production, archiving, and media distribution.
He is known for his promotion of "Context Media" partially due to his keynote speech at a super session of National Association of Broadcasters
in Las Vegas, 2007. His media businesses in 1990s included TV production B&B Media Production, with the Boston-based foundation he chaired being the lead investor and providing senior management, and investment in bookstore and publishing in Beijing
. B&B Media Production had created and produced several highly circulated and acclaimed TV programs, including No.1 rated national weekend prime time show Tell It Like It Is during its first season.
on a Wien Scholarship and later in doctorate programs in political philosophy at Harvard University
and sociology at Boston University
with Harvey Mansfield
, Peter Berger
, Daniel Bell
, Samuel P. Huntington
, and Michael Sandel
.
In films and television, Shen Tong has been an actor, producer, and film festival sponsor and speaker. Shen Tong starred in Out of Exile with co-star Sharif Atkins
in 2000. He worked with Arte
, ABC News
and Jean-François Bizot
's Actuel magazine to produce Clandestins en Chine which premiered in a Paris theater and on Arte in 1992. He co-starred with actress Hu Zongwen in a made-for-TV two parts movie, which received the 6th Fei Tian National Award in 1986.
As a writer, he co-authored the book Almost a Revolution
, published in 1990, a memoir of his life growing up in China and his experiences at the Tiananmen Square democracy movement. He carried on a diverse writing career with political commentary, scholarly essays, film critics, literary prose, and movie scripts in English and in Chinese, including publications in China under the pseudonym Rong Di. He holds honorary Ph.D. in 1991 from St. Ambrose University.
Shen Tong also founded higher education and culture focused NGO in the mid-1990s, a center in Budapest for liberal scholars, journalists, writers, and educators studying transitional society with funding from Open Society Institute
and Central European University
of George Soros
, a literature review magazine with Chinese dissident poets and writers with support from Allen Ginsberg
, Susan Sontag
, and Elie Wiesel
.
in Waltham, Massachusetts
in the United States, so even though he was wanted by the Chinese government he was able to board a plane six days after the massacre on June 4, 1989. He was able to walk undisguised through police and security officials in the Beijing airport, possibly indicating broader support for the student democracy movement than the Chinese government contended at the time.
Shortly after his arrival in the United States, Shen Tong held a press conference at the Walker Center for Ecumenical Exchange in Newton, Massachusetts
, giving the first detailed eye-witness account by a student leader of the Tiananmen Square massacre and of the events that led up to it.
During his studies in Massachusetts he founded the Democracy for China Fund to support democratic movements in China and to promote ideas of political freedom and human rights. American NGO activist Marshall Strauss helped Shen Tong in founding and operation of the Fund. Coretta Scott King
, John Kerry
, Nancy Pelosi
, Kerry Kennedy
, among other Western political and NGO figures and sinologists were associated with Shen Tong's organization in 1990s. The Congressional Human Rights Delegation to China in 1991 headed by Nancy Pelosi was organized by the Democracy for China Fund with the help and funding from Hong Kong Democrats. His 1992 trip back to China led to the arrest of him and his associates. He was released and immediately exiled after only two months of imprisonment under mounting international pressure especially from the US Congress, the Presidential Campaign of Bill Clinton
, the Vatican
, and European governments. In May 1993, days before the renewal of China's Most Favorite Nation trading status by the US government, Shen Tong was scheduled to give a speech at the United Nations press club, but was barred by UN General Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali
due to strong protest from the Chinese government. He is known to be also associated with Chinese dissident activists and writers Wu'er Kaixi, Hu Ping, Ma Jian
, Shi Tao, Tibetan exile leader Dalai Lama
, Taiwan politician Ma Yingjiu.
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
who was one of the student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
leaders in the democracy movement at Tiananmen Square in 1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
One of the People of the Year by Newsweek 1989, Shen Tong became a media and software entrepreneur in late 1990s. He serves on the board of Poets & Writers
Poets & Writers
Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organization in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers...
.
Personal Background
Shen Tong was born in 1968, in Beijing. He studied at Peking UniversityPeking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
from 1986 to 1989, and became one of the student leaders during the 1989 protest in Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...
. He lives in New York City, and has two daughters and a son. His father and sister Shen Qing
Shen Qing
Shen Qing is a lifestyle and fashion publisher in China, writing weekly, monthly magazine or blog articles with some following in a number of Chinese foreign joint venture publications before taking the job as publisher of the Chinese edition of the monthly How to Spend It of the Financial Times...
both went to Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
, and his mother is a medical doctor.
Media Ventures
Shen Tong moved from Massachusetts to New York in year 2000 focusing more exclusively on his media ventures and writing. He is the founder and president of the company VFinityVFinity
VFinity is a privately held software company based in New York City. It was founded by former Chinese democracy leader Shen Tong in 2004, with a consulting and software customization company Wan Net Technology founded in 2000 as its predecessor....
, which makes software tools and web applications for multimedia and multilingual search, media production, archiving, and media distribution.
He is known for his promotion of "Context Media" partially due to his keynote speech at a super session of National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...
in Las Vegas, 2007. His media businesses in 1990s included TV production B&B Media Production, with the Boston-based foundation he chaired being the lead investor and providing senior management, and investment in bookstore and publishing in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. B&B Media Production had created and produced several highly circulated and acclaimed TV programs, including No.1 rated national weekend prime time show Tell It Like It Is during its first season.
Cultural Activities
Shen Tong serves on the board of Poets & Writers since 2008. He studied biology at Brandeis UniversityBrandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
on a Wien Scholarship and later in doctorate programs in political philosophy at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and sociology at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
with Harvey Mansfield
Harvey Mansfield
Harvey Claflin Mansfield, Jr. is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1962. He has held Guggenheim and NEH Fellowships and has been a Fellow at the National Humanities Center; he also received the National Humanities Medal in 2004 and...
, Peter Berger
Peter L. Berger
Peter Ludwig Berger is an Austrian-born American sociologist well known for his work, co-authored with Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge .-Biography:...
, Daniel Bell
Daniel Bell
Daniel Bell was an American sociologist, writer, editor, and professor emeritus at Harvard University, best known for his seminal contributions to the study of post-industrialism...
, Samuel P. Huntington
Samuel P. Huntington
Samuel Phillips Huntington was an influential American political scientist who wrote highly-regarded books in a half-dozen sub-fields of political science, starting in 1957...
, and Michael Sandel
Michael Sandel
Michael J. Sandel is an American political philosopher and a professor at Harvard University. He is best known for the Harvard course 'Justice' which is available to , and for his critique of Rawls' A Theory of Justice in his Liberalism and the Limits of Justice...
.
In films and television, Shen Tong has been an actor, producer, and film festival sponsor and speaker. Shen Tong starred in Out of Exile with co-star Sharif Atkins
Sharif Atkins
Sharif Atkins is an American television actor. He's best known for his role as Dr. Michael Gallant on ER.- Career :He gained fame for his role as Dr. Michael Gallant, a character that debuted in the eighth season of the NBC Universal Television medical drama ER. He left ER after the 2003-2004...
in 2000. He worked with Arte
Arte
Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
, ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
and Jean-François Bizot
Jean-François Bizot
Jean-François Bizot was a French journalist and writer.Born in Paris, Bizot was the founder and owner of the Paris based radio station, Radio Nova, which first broadcast in 1981. He was also the creator of the Actuel publication.Bizot died of cancer in Paris, aged 63.-External links:* *...
's Actuel magazine to produce Clandestins en Chine which premiered in a Paris theater and on Arte in 1992. He co-starred with actress Hu Zongwen in a made-for-TV two parts movie, which received the 6th Fei Tian National Award in 1986.
As a writer, he co-authored the book Almost a Revolution
Almost a Revolution
Almost a Revolution is an autobiography by the Chinese student democracy leader Shen Tong, written with former Washington Post writer Marianne Yen....
, published in 1990, a memoir of his life growing up in China and his experiences at the Tiananmen Square democracy movement. He carried on a diverse writing career with political commentary, scholarly essays, film critics, literary prose, and movie scripts in English and in Chinese, including publications in China under the pseudonym Rong Di. He holds honorary Ph.D. in 1991 from St. Ambrose University.
Shen Tong also founded higher education and culture focused NGO in the mid-1990s, a center in Budapest for liberal scholars, journalists, writers, and educators studying transitional society with funding from Open Society Institute
Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...
and Central European University
Central European University
For other uses, see European University Central European University is a graduate-level, English-language university offering degrees in the social sciences, humanities, law, public policy, business management, environmental science, and mathematics...
of George Soros
George Soros
George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...
, a literature review magazine with Chinese dissident poets and writers with support from Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag was an American author, literary theorist, feminist and political activist whose works include On Photography and Against Interpretation.-Life:...
, and Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel
Sir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
.
Political Activism
He co-chaired the committee on dialog with the government during the 1989 pro-democracy movement in China. He was on Changan Avenue when Chinese troops opened fire on the students. He had earlier obtained a Chinese passport to study biology at Brandeis UniversityBrandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
in Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...
in the United States, so even though he was wanted by the Chinese government he was able to board a plane six days after the massacre on June 4, 1989. He was able to walk undisguised through police and security officials in the Beijing airport, possibly indicating broader support for the student democracy movement than the Chinese government contended at the time.
Shortly after his arrival in the United States, Shen Tong held a press conference at the Walker Center for Ecumenical Exchange in Newton, Massachusetts
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States bordered to the east by Boston. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Newton was 85,146, making it the eleventh largest city in the state.-Villages:...
, giving the first detailed eye-witness account by a student leader of the Tiananmen Square massacre and of the events that led up to it.
During his studies in Massachusetts he founded the Democracy for China Fund to support democratic movements in China and to promote ideas of political freedom and human rights. American NGO activist Marshall Strauss helped Shen Tong in founding and operation of the Fund. Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.Mrs...
, John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
, Kerry Kennedy
Kerry Kennedy
Mary Kerry Kennedy is an American human rights activist and writer. She is the seventh of the eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. She was known as Kerry Kennedy Cuomo from 1991 until 2003.-Early life:...
, among other Western political and NGO figures and sinologists were associated with Shen Tong's organization in 1990s. The Congressional Human Rights Delegation to China in 1991 headed by Nancy Pelosi was organized by the Democracy for China Fund with the help and funding from Hong Kong Democrats. His 1992 trip back to China led to the arrest of him and his associates. He was released and immediately exiled after only two months of imprisonment under mounting international pressure especially from the US Congress, the Presidential Campaign of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, and European governments. In May 1993, days before the renewal of China's Most Favorite Nation trading status by the US government, Shen Tong was scheduled to give a speech at the United Nations press club, but was barred by UN General Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996...
due to strong protest from the Chinese government. He is known to be also associated with Chinese dissident activists and writers Wu'er Kaixi, Hu Ping, Ma Jian
Ma Jian
Ma Jian may refer to:* Ma Jian , Chinese basketball player* Ma Jian , Chinese writer* Muhammad Ma Jian, Confucian scholar who became an Islamic jurist...
, Shi Tao, Tibetan exile leader Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
, Taiwan politician Ma Yingjiu.
External links
- Shen Tong in Directory of Writers
- Shen Tong Profile - GuandianWeekly - The Observer, May 3rd 2009
- Shen Tong on The Interview by BBC World Service
- Brandeis University Alumni Achievement Award 2001
- U. S./China Relations and Human Rights: Is Constructive Engagement Working? : Hearing before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fift /by Christopher H. Smith
- Tibet through Dissent Chinese Eyes: Essays on Self-Determination
- Fortune Small Business (FSB) A Tiananmen Rebel turns Capitalist
- New York Times: China Arrests a Student Leader Back From Exile in the U.S.
- World Affairs: Will China Be Democratic
- New York Times Book Review
- University of Michigan Press: Almost a Revolution
- 《一个叫许淑娴的人》 编剧：程世鉴 导演：宁和 摄像：姚力 主要演员：胡宗温、左晓东、刘武、沈彤
- Unvanquished: a U.S.-U.N. saga, by Boutros Boutros-Ghali Random House, 1999