Early life and career
Jiang Yanyong was born in 1931. He entered Peking Union Medical College in 1952, joined the military in 1954, and worked at the 301 Hospital. Due to his father’s status as a banker and having relatives in Taiwan, he was labeled a “counter-revolutionary” during the Cultural Revolution and was imprisoned for two years before being sent to a labor camp in Qinghai. In 1972, Jiang returned to work at the 301 Hospital and later became the director of General Surgery.
His medical ethics were widely praised, and in 1991, an article in Beijing Review referred to him as an “honest doctor.” After retiring, Jiang was rehired as a member of the expert group. In 1997, he wrote in the History of Yenching University for his alma mater’s 80th anniversary: “I deeply understand that telling the truth and speaking from the heart is extremely difficult. But I must insist on telling the truth. It is easiest to tell lies and empty words, but I will never do that.”
SARS outbreak in China
In 2003, the SARS epidemic first broke out in Guangdong, China. On April 3, 2003, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, China’s Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang assured the media that “Beijing has only 12 cases of SARS, with three deaths. The SARS epidemic in China has been effectively controlled.” He further stated, “Everyone is welcome to travel to China and do business here. I guarantee your safety, whether you wear a mask or not.”
Jiang Yanyong, a military doctor at the 301 Hospital, immediately felt that “the numbers provided by Zhang Wenkang were far from the truth.” On the evening of April 4, Jiang wrote down what he knew and sent it to CCTV4 and Phoenix TV, based on the email addresses he saw on TV. His last sentence was: “All the information I provided is true, and I take full responsibility for it.”
In the following days, there was no response from within China, but Jiang Yanyong’s information was picked up by foreign media, spreading the news that the Chinese authorities were concealing the severity of the SARS epidemic worldwide.
Revealing the truth to the world
On April 8, a reporter from The Wall Street Journal called for an interview. That evening, a reporter from Time magazine also interviewed him. On April 9, Time published an article titled “Beijing’s SARS Attack.” On April 10, the WHO sent an expert team to Beijing to investigate.
Jiang Yanyong’s disclosure forced the top Chinese leadership to take action. On April 17, General Secretary Hu Jintao emphasized that no one should conceal or lie about the epidemic. On April 20, Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Deputy Party Secretary Meng Xuenong were dismissed.
At the same time, the Executive Vice Minister of Health, Gao Qiang, announced the epidemic in Beijing, with new numbers nearly 10 times the official figures from five days earlier, reaching 339 cases, with an additional 402 suspected cases. Dr. Jiang Yanyong was widely praised for “bravely revealing the truth about the SARS epidemic, thereby saving many lives.” In 2004, Jiang Yanyong received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service from the Philippines.
Petitioning Xi Jinping for a correct evaluation of June 4th
In 2004, on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the June Fourth Incident, Jiang Yanyong wrote to the top Chinese leadership, hoping to rectify the name of the June Fourth Incident at the National People’s Congress in March. In his petition, Jiang Yanyong detailed the tragic scenes he witnessed as a doctor and confirmed the actions of the Chinese military in shooting demonstrators. Subsequently, Jiang was restricted from leaving the country. In 2019, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the June Fourth Incident, Jiang wrote again to General Secretary Xi Jinping, requesting a rectification of the June Fourth Incident.
In an interview with Hong Kong media, Jiang Yanyong stated that the biggest misunderstanding about June Fourth was not considering human life as an issue. This issue should be clear to every citizen, cadre, and leader, but because the top leadership has not made a clear statement, most National People’s Congress leaders remain silent. The Guardian reported in February 2020 that Jiang Yanyong had been under house arrest in Beijing since April 2019 and was hospitalized at the 301 Hospital. His wife, Hua Zhongwei, told British media that the authorities did not allow him to contact outsiders.
Exposing the dark secrets of organ harvesting
During the National People’s Congress in March 2015, Jiang Yanyong revealed in an interview with Hong Kong Cable TV the corruption within the military, specifically pointing out that former Politburo Standing Committee member and former Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission Zhou Yongkang had a large number of “high-grade weapons” hidden in secret warehouses. He also exposed the widespread illegal practice of organ transplantation and trading of executed prisoners’ organs in military hospitals.
Even the 301 Military General Hospital sent vehicles to execution grounds to collect fresh organs from executed prisoners. Jiang Yanyong stated that liver transplants in mainland China came from executed prisoners, including the 301 Hospital and the Beijing Military Region General Hospital, which had “organ transplant centers” mainly engaged in illegal organ transplantation and trading, generating significant economic benefits and serving as a major source of gray income for hospitals and medical staff.
He claimed that to obtain organs, they colluded with public security, procuratorate, and courts, sending vehicles to execution grounds to collect corpses whenever there were executions. Some prisoners were taken back to the hospital operating table for organ removal before they were even shot dead, and then the organs were transplanted to patients. Their methods were inhumane and appalling.
The disappearance of the SARS whistleblower
“Telling the truth and speaking from the heart is extremely difficult, but I must insist on telling the truth,” Jiang Yanyong recalled, having made up his mind and preparing for the worst when he decided to reveal the authorities’ deliberate concealment of SARS figures under his real name. He said: “I am not a hero; just call me an honest person. I have always believed that human life is the most important, and telling the truth is the most important.”
He practiced what he preached, but it cost him his freedom — the Chinese authorities placed him under house arrest until he died in 2019. Jiang Yanyong, hailed as a “conscientious military doctor,” passed away in Beijing on March 12, 2023, at 92. This news did not spread online; only a few commemorative articles about him briefly appeared and disappeared.
Jiang Yanyong’s story of revealing the SARS epidemic in 2003 remains on the Chinese Internet, but his experiences of helping students injured during the June Fourth Incident, calling for the rectification of the 1989 student movement, and exposing the dark secrets of organ harvesting in military hospitals have been completely erased. His case demonstrates the Chinese government’s relentless efforts to control online information and cover up the truth, requiring continued efforts from the outside world to uncover the truth.
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