Student activism Shen co-chaired the committee on dialogue 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 University 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. Some of the biographical works about Shen Tong are
Tiananmen Exiles and
Standoff at Tiananmen.
Chinese democracy advocacy in the United States Shortly after his arrival in the United States, Shen 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. Shen Tong also helped established
Radio Free Asia with bipartisan efforts led by then Senator
Joe Biden in the 1990s. American NGO activist Marshall Strauss and program coordinator Juanita Scheyett-Cheng helped Shen found and operate the Fund.
Coretta Scott King,
John Kerry,
Jeane Kirkpatrick,
Nancy Pelosi,
Kerry Kennedy, among other Western political and NGO figures and sinologists, were associated with Shen's organization in the 1990s. The Congressional Human Rights Delegation to China in 1991 headed by Nancy Pelosi and Republican congressman
John R. Miller 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 his and his associates' arrest. He was released and immediately exiled after two months of imprisonment under mounting international pressure, particularly 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 Favored Nation trading status by the US government, Shen was scheduled to give a speech at the United Nations press club, but was barred by UN Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali due to strong protest from the Chinese government. He is known to be also associated with Chinese dissident activists and writers
Liu Xiaobo,
Wu'er Kaixi, Hu Ping,
Ma Jian, Shi Tao, the Tibetan exile leader
Dalai Lama, and the Taiwanese politician
Ma Yingjiu. He is one of the narrators of the 2019 documentary
Tiananmen: The People Versus the Party by PBS, BBC, and continental European TV networks. The documentary is a 2-hour show special about 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, "uncover[ing] the true story of the seven-week period that changed China forever".
Occupy Wall Street In 2011, Shen supported the
Occupy Wall Street movement. He is considered a main proponent of nonviolence, social media movement, nationally coordinated organization working with broad alliances, and strategic messaging. Believing in the power of a decentralized movement to combat the social and economic injustices that contribute to a dysfunctional democracy, he held planning meetings with protesters in his Broadway office.
COVID-19 relief efforts When the
COVID-19 pandemic reached New York,
The New York Times reported Shen's "just-in-time" relief efforts during the first weeks of the pandemic outbreak in New York through his private networks in March 2020. ==Cultural activities==