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After Jiang Yanyong exposed the SARS epidemic, he continued to speak out for the “June 4th” victims, but was suppressed by the authorities.
Jiang Yanyong, a famous Chinese military doctor who first disclosed to the outside world 20 years ago the cover-up of the SARS epidemic in China and who has long called for redress of the “June 4th Incident”, died on Saturday (March 11) at the age of 91.
Many Hong Kong media reported the news of Jiang Yanyong’s death, and his friend Bao Pu also confirmed his death to BBC Chinese. According to Hong Kong media reports, the farewell ceremony for the body was held in Beijing on Wednesday (March 15) and then sent to be cremated.
The “PLA 301 Hospital” is officially called the General Hospital of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, and it treats both military personnel and ordinary people.
Jiang Yanyong’s act of bringing the truth to the public was seen as saving a large number of lives, and many called him a “hero” or “whistleblower.” However, he did not become the official anti-epidemic hero, and did not receive the honor and applause that matched him. Instead, he faded out of the public eye under the control of the authorities.
Later, because he continued to call on the authorities to redress the victims of the “June 4th Incident” in 1989, and even wrote letters to China’s top leaders, trying to leverage the CCP’s characterization of the democracy movement, the authorities were even more annoyed. He remains under residential surveillance and is silenced.
Jiang Yanyong was born in a wealthy family in Hangzhou, eastern China in 1931. When he was a teenager, he witnessed his aunt dying of tuberculosis and determined to become a doctor. In 1949, he entered the Department of Medicine of Yenching University to study, and three years later entered the most prestigious Peking Union Medical College in China.
He later entered the Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital (301 Hospital) to work. This well-known hospital is responsible for the medical care of senior officials of the Chinese party, government and military, and is responsible for diagnosing and treating intractable diseases across the country.
The first to disclose the SARS epidemic
In March 2003, Jiang Yanyong discovered that the outbreak of SARS was unusual. At that time, the 301 Hospital successively admitted several suspected SARS patients and infected some relatives and medical staff. At the end of the month, Jiang Yanyong’s classmate and the director of the Department of Neurology of the 301 Hospital developed a high fever when he was preparing for surgery for lung cancer. He was highly suspected of being infected with SARS, and invited experts from two other hospitals for consultation. Jiang Yanyong participated in the consultation and found that these two hospitals also had many SARS patients.
Although the epidemic had spread in Hong Kong and many other parts of the world by then, Chinese officials seemed careless about it. On April 3, 2003, then Chinese Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang said at a press conference that there were only 12 cases of SARS in Beijing, of which 3 died.
“I can tell you responsibly that working and living in China, including traveling, is safe,” he said at the meeting. “Everyone here, whether you wear a mask or not, I believe you are safe.”
The figures reported by Zhang Wenkang are far from what Jiang Yanyong learned. Jiang Yanyong worried that a large number of foreign guests would travel to Beijing and China in mid-April, contract SARS, and then spread SARS to all parts of the world. “That would have extremely bad consequences for our country and the people of the world. I have the responsibility to tell the world what I know,” he recalled afterwards.
Therefore, he began to collect the actual number of cases in various hospitals, and learned that 302 Hospital had admitted 40 cases and 2 died; 309 had admitted 60 cases and 7 died; 301 had admitted 46 confirmed and suspected patients.
On the evening of April 4, he sent e-mails to CCTV and Phoenix Satellite TV, but they all fell to the ground. But four days later, reporters from the American “Time” and “Wall Street Journal” interviewed him after hearing about the incident. After the report was published,exploded like a thunder。
A flood of media calls poured into Jiang Yanyong’s home. The Pandora’s box of the SARS epidemic was opened and became the headlines of major newspapers and news agencies. World Health Organization inspectors also extended their trip to Beijing.
The Chinese authorities finally woke up and took action: On April 20, the central government held a press conference, acknowledging that there were “large omissions” in the epidemic statistics, and announcing that the actual number of cases in Beijing had increased to 339, which was nearly ten times the number officially reported five days earlier . The then mayor of Beijing, Meng Xuenong, and Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang were immediately dismissed.
Ten years later, when Jiang Yanyong was asked by the media whether he had considered the consequences of being interviewed, he replied: “Between personal gains and losses and people’s lives, I did not hesitate to choose the latter. And I had a judgment at that time, I speak the truth and I trust the national government to treat me fairly.”
In fact, shortly after being interviewed by foreign media, the leaders of the 301 Hospital talked to Jiang Yanyong. He recalled that during the seemingly polite conversation, the leader affirmed his motives and starting point, but Jiang Yanyong violated military discipline as a soldier and demanded that he should no longer have contact with foreign media in the future.
Later, for interviews with the media, if it was foreign media, Jiang Yanyong refused all of them; when he received invitations from domestic media, he asked the reporters to go to the hospital to get approval before coming, but none of them were approved.
Jiang Yanyong’s warning saved tens of thousands of lives in China, and the epidemic did not spread further, causing a greater crisis. With the accumulated praise and courage, Jiang Yanyong made a bolder decision: he wanted to use his own power to promote the redress of June 4, just like the role he played in SARS, and he hoped to make the authorities face up to his mistakes.
The “June 4th Incident” in 1989 is the most sensitive political issue in China. At the time, the Chinese government used the military to suppress protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square calling for democracy and political reform. The authorities have blocked most information about the event, which they describe as “political turmoil” and “counter-revolutionary riots”.
Why did a student movement end in violent suppression?
In February 2004, one year after the SARS incident, on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the “June 4th Incident”, Jiang Yanyong gave a letter to the leaders of the National People’s Congress, the Political Consultative Conference and the Communist Party of Chinawrite a letterdemanding that the 1989 student movement be renamed the “Patriotic Movement.”
When the “June 4th” incident happened, Jiang Yanyong was the surgical director of the 301 Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army. In his letter, he revealed that he saw several young people who were killed and injured by bullets in the emergency room and on the street.
There are several dead that he will never forget. Among them, a young man in his twenties was shot by bullets when he ran to the Wukesong intersection, and lay down in a pool of blood by the roadside. After his girlfriend sent him to the emergency room, Jiang Yanyong found that his heart had stopped beating. The young man’s mother knelt down in front of Jiang Yanyong, holding his leg with both hands, begging him to save her son.
“I was also in tears, speechless. I squatted beside this heartbroken mother and told her truthfully that his heart had been shattered and it was impossible to save him.” Jiang Yanyong wrote in the letter wrote in.
He said that doctors found a large number of shrapnel fragments in the wounded body. Unlike ordinary bullets, it shredded the internal organs after hitting the human body.
“I think the June 4th crackdown is absolutely wrong. I always hope that this mistake will be corrected by our party with determination.” Jiang Yanyong wrote that he hopes that the leaders can re-evaluate the June 4th and take time to talk to him.
But shortly after the letter was sent, he and his wife were arrested by the authoritiesseize. He was later forced to undergo lengthy interrogations and investigations, was prevented from leaving the country, and was periodically subjected to surveillance, harassment and house arrest.
On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the “June 4th Incident” in April 2019, Jiang Yanyong once again wrote to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, requesting a re-evaluation of the “June 4th Incident”. He was forcibly sent by the authorities to Beijing No. 301 Hospital, where he used to work, and was allowed to go home after the Memorial Day, but he continued to be under house arrest.
Although Jiang Yanyong has never been recognized by the government, he has received many civil honors in recognition of his tireless pursuit of truth.
In 2004, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award. “He broke the habit of silence in China and made the truth about SARS public,” the award speech read.