The Tiananmen Dossier

In the spring of 1989, Chinese students occupied Tiananmen Square to demonstrate for economic reform. But what began as a student protest became a national issue, which eventually came to a dramatic end. Tiananmen was one of the most important events in the history of communist China.

The Tiananmen Dossier is an astonishing trove of secret documents relating to the student uprising. Memos from government departments, intelligence agencies and the military, transcripts of telephone conversations and private meetings between Chinese leaders, and reports from informants form the explosive content of this book. The reports show on the basis of which material the Chinese government made its decisions, including the decision to forcibly remove the students from the square.

Never before has it been possible to form such a detailed picture of the way in which political decision-making takes place at the highest level.