236:"help the movement without being too visible." On May 3, Shen was elected as the general secretary of the official Dialogue Delegation. According to Shen, the responsibility for putting the students' demands before government leaders fell on the "Dialogue Delegation" because the student movement was about pressing the Chinese government for reforms. Shen wrote that he was determined to avoid the political fights that often went on in other student organizations' leadership. To better prepare for the meetings, Shen wrote that the "Dialogue Delegation" should make sure they had a clear agenda to present to the government officials before they actually went to the dialogue meetings. His friend suggested that they should divide the substance of the dialogue into three parts. On May 8, the Beida Preparatory Committee posted a dazibao stating five conditions that the authorities should meet before the students would return to class. Shen claims that he agreed with the demands but worried that this action might create problems for the "Dialogue Delegation" because Shen hoped different student groups would speak with a united voice.
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they had prepared. Shen claimed did not know how to regain control. Shen admitted that "I have been emotionally on edge since the dialogue had ended on May 14." Shen wrote that he missed the May 18 meeting with Li Peng, which turned out to be the last meeting with the government. Shen's friend who attended the meeting told him that "we weren't prepared. It was too disorganized. It wasn't a dialogue; the two sides were just making statements at each other." This meeting was broadcast nationwide, which was what the "Dialogue
Delegation" had desperately wanted to achieve for its last two meetings. Shen realized it was impossible to have a real dialogue with the government after the failure of the previous meetings. As a result, Shen spent the following days trying to persuade the hunger strikers to leave Tiananmen Square to avoid the possible military crackdown.
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Yan Mingfu had expressed an interest in holding a dialogue with the students. At the same time, he was nervous for the big meeting. The first meeting with Yan Mingfu, the head of the
Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and the minister of the United Front Department, came on May 13. Apart from six members of the "Dialogue Delegation", other student leaders such as
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attention to the posters that urged political as well as economic reform. Shen attended the Peking
University in the fall of 1986. According to Shen, he felt proud of being a Beida student because Beida students are known for their outspokenness and for the role they played in student movements over the past century.
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Judy
Polumbaum calls Almost a Revolution "an honest book." Polumbaum suggested that "Shen Tong is frank about his own self-centered quest for identity, understanding, and love, and his oftentimes aimless or impulsive political movements; and he is candid about the flaws and failings of the movement."
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Another meeting with Yan Mingfu and Li
Tieying was held on May 14. Shen wrote that he wanted the representatives of hunger strikers to stay as observers. The student observers, however, sent endless notes and proposed more questions for the Delegation to raise, which forced Shen to deviate from what
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also attended this meeting. Shen recalled that the meeting went sour when Zheng Min, a dialogue delegate from People's
University, said in an emphatic tone that "the ball has been kicked to the government’s court. We are waiting to see how the government will kick the ball back." According to Shen,
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Despite Shen's effort to organize the "Dialogue
Delegation", their attempt to achieve a genuine dialogue with the government failed because the chaotic atmosphere of the meeting prevented them from producing any meaningful negotiations. On May 10, Shen wrote that he was excited about the news that
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died. He also experienced the
Democracy Wall Movement in the winter of 1978-79 during which his father often took him to visit the Democracy Wall. Near the end of high school, Shen spent few weeks at Beida campus with his sister and her boyfriend to read dazibao. Shen claims that he paid the most
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The second half of the book, "Movement," provides an inside view of the 1989 student movement from the beginning to the final crackdown. Shen's first involvement in the movement was putting together a news center in a Beida dormitory on April 22. He wrote that he want the broadcast station could
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magazine editing articles on the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, believes that after many books written by
Western journalists, Almost a Revolution "provides a much needed insider's account of the events leading up to the Tiananmen Square massacre." Dorff further states that Shen Tong's book
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At the end of the book, Shen provides a detailed portrayal of the June 4 military crackdown. Because his house was near the
Tiananmen Square, he witnessed the death of many ordinary citizens. Shen escaped China with the help from a group of influential people he had met during the movement.
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One critic of the book, Judith Shapiro, suggested that the book is "frustratingly thin on description and analysis of the movement itself." Shapiro also wrote that "unlike the engaging account of Mr. Shen's youth, the second half of the book is often tedious."
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The first half of the book, "Beginnings," describes Shen's life from childhood until his first year at
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Shen Tong was born on July 30, 1968, on an army base in Zhangjiakou, a small town northwest of
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Polumbaum, Judy (1991). "Review of Almost a Revolution".
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Dorff, Patricia (1991). "Review of Almost a Revolution".
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1333:Leica advert
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1318:
1311:
1304:
1297:
1290:
1283:
1277:
1276:
1156:Yang Baibing
1096:Zhou Yongjun
1046:Tang Baiqiao
1011:Han Dongfang
596:
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1495:32nd (2021)
1490:31st (2020)
1485:30th (2019)
1480:25th (2014)
1475:24th (2013)
1470:21st (2010)
1465:20th (2009)
1460:10th (1999)
1166:Hong Xuezhi
1151:Chi Haotian
1146:Liu Huaqing
1061:Wang Youcai
1026:Liu Xianbin
1001:Feng Congde
878:Jiang Zemin
873:Chen Xitong
832:Zhao Ziyang
799:Li Xiannian
137:951.05/8 21
1578:Categories
1190:Army units
1181:Li Lianxiu
1176:Xu Qinxian
1086:Zhang Boli
1081:Yu Dongyue
1066:Wu'erkaixi
1031:Liu Xiaobo
1016:Hou Dejian
996:Fang Zheng
991:Fang Lizhi
986:Ding Zilin
952:Protesters
939:Wu Xueqian
934:Wen Jiabao
919:Yan Mingfu
909:Hu Yaobang
883:Zhu Rongji
708:Chronology
679:Corruption
642:Background
470:(2): 200.
284:References
242:Wuer Kaixi
229:Zhou Enlai
1535:Hong Kong
1394:TV series
1388:Chimerica
1313:Execution
1161:Qin Jiwei
1076:Yan Jiaqi
1071:Xiong Yan
1041:Shen Tong
1036:Qin Benli
971:Chai Ling
888:Hu Jintao
868:Li Ximing
852:Yao Yilin
809:Peng Zhen
804:Wang Zhen
765:Communist
593:Booknotes
527:165192828
447:Shen 1990
435:Shen 1990
423:Shen 1990
411:Shen 1990
399:Shen 1990
387:Shen 1990
375:Shen 1990
363:Shen 1990
348:Shen 1990
336:Shen 1990
324:Shen 1990
312:Shen 1990
300:Shen 1990
261:Reception
246:Chai Ling
200:(cloth).
162:Shen Tong
88:Paperback
53:Published
38:Shen Tong
1518:Tank Man
1139:Generals
1131:Military
1056:Wang Dan
1006:Liu Gang
981:Dai Qing
976:Cui Jian
904:Bao Tong
842:Qiao Shi
789:Chen Yun
484:20044802
204:Synopsis
124:39229792
84:Hardback
45:Language
1546:Related
966:Bei Dao
924:Yuan Mu
914:Luo Gan
847:Hu Qili
837:Li Peng
814:Bo Yibo
560:Sources
519:2057238
210:Beijing
82:Print (
48:English
1407:groups
1105:Groups
929:Wan Li
897:Others
776:Elders
574:
525:
517:
482:
196:
86:&
34:Author
1504:Icons
1270:Works
1021:Li Lu
767:Party
523:S2CID
515:JSTOR
480:JSTOR
184:Genre
95:Pages
62:1998
56:1990
1258:67th
1254:65th
1250:64th
1247:63rd
1244:54th
1240:40th
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1207:20th
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572:ISBN
244:and
194:ISBN
118:OCLC
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