Jiang Yanyong, a Chinese military doctor who was also known for exposing the cover up of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in China, died on Sunday from pneumonia. Jiang was a chief surgeon at 301 Hospital, the largest military hospital in China. He was also a member of the People’s Liberation Army, which he joined in 1954.
In early 2003, the virus was spreading rapidly, but the Chinese government was suppressing the actual number of SARS cases. On April 4, 2003 Jiang emailed an 800- word letter to Chinese and Hong Kong Central Television, stating the actual facts related to the epidemic cases and how the government is trying hard to hide them. After the information got leaked to the western media, the Chinese government arrested Jiang Yanyong and his wife and placed them under military custody.
They were later released in July 2004.
The letter led to the resignations of the then- Health Minister and Beijing’s mayor on April 21, 2003. The incident forced the Chinese government to deal with the virus more actively. Many health experts believed that the action taken by Jiang helped in preventing the virus from reaching a pandemic proportion.
More than 8,000 people from 29 countries and territories were infected, and more than 774 deaths were reported.
Since 2021, Jiang and his wife have been placed under house arrest after he requested a reassessment of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, a pro-democracy movement.
The goal of the movement was to end the corruption within the government, and promote social, political freedom, and equality, economic reforms.
China has frequently been charged with keeping the actual data secret from its people and from the rest of the world. The government has long maintained tight control over the information, as its global influence expands.
The exact death toll is still not clear, as the Chinese government has not provided the correct data. But according to Sir Alan Donald, then British ambassador to China about 10,000 civilians died and many were injured.
The information related to the Massacre was regularly removed from the internet by the government, to keep the horrific truth hidden.
Jiang urged the government to admit that the 1989 movement was a “patriotic movement”. In March 2019, he also wrote to Xi Jinping, saying that the clampdown on student protests during the 1989 movement was a crime.
In 2004, Jiang was honored by the Philippines with Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service and is also the receipent of the Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award presented by the New York Academy of Sciences. Because he was not allowed to travel outside China, he couldn’t attend any of the ceremonies.
In 2020, the world witnessed a similar incident where Li Wenliang, a 34 year old Chinese doctor who warned the nation about the Covid- 19 virus, died after having contracted the virus while working at Wuhan Central Hospital. Even at that point, China denied his claims and warned him not to propagate the “false rumors.”
China has frequently been charged with keeping the actual data secret from its people and from the rest of the world. The government has long maintained tight control over the information, as its global influence expands.
According to reports, the 91- year- old Jiang is survived by his wife, Hua Zhongwei, a son, and a daughter.
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