Book summary

The history of the student movement in China that led to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre is told through documents purportedly transcribed by the pseudonymous author Zhang Liang--a Communist party member with access. The documents are arranged chronologically to tell the story of the events, and they purportedly reveal the inner workings of the party, its decision-making process, and the roles played by key party officials.

Media reviews

"I, for one, would like to see the original documents. I want to know what proportion of the conversations were excised and why. Perhaps the conversations will make more sense in the expanded Chinese edition, to be published in April. There's no question that THE TIANANMEN PAPERS is accurate in its generalities, for the story it tells conforms with what we already know to be true. But the devil is in the details."