Jiang Yanyong
| Jiang Yanyong | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 蔣彥永 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 蒋彦永 | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Jiǎng Yànyǒng |
| Wade–Giles | Chiang Yen-yung |
Jiang Yanyong (born October 4, 1931) is a Chinese physician from Beijing who publicized a coverup of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China. Born to the famous Hangzhou Zhejiang Xinye Bank family, Jiang was the chief physician of the 301 Military Hospital in Beijing and a senior member of the Communist Party of China.
Dr. Jiang attended Yenching University. Jiang was inspired to "chose a career in medicine after seeing an aunt die of tuberculosis and, in 1952, entered Peking Union Medical College". In 1954, Jiang joined the People’s Liberation Army. In 1957, Jiang "was assigned to the No. 301 Hospital in Beijing". In 1987, Jiang "was named its chief surgeon".
In 1989, Jiang was the chief physician of the 301 Military Hospital in Beijing, China. As a military doctor, Jiang held a rank within the People's Liberation Army equivalent to Major General. While there, he witnessed the results of the trauma inflicted on the students during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
While the SARS virus began spreading in China in late 2002 and early 2003, the number of cases being reported in mainland China was drastically understated by the government. On April 4, 2003, Jiang emailed an 800-word letter to Chinese Central Television -4 (CCTV4) and PhoenixTV (HongKong) reporting that fact. Although neither of the two replied or published his letter, the information was leaked to the Western news organizations. On April 8, 2003, Jiang was reached by a journalist from the Wall Street Journal through telephone interview. Later the same day, Susan Jakes, a Time journalist in Beijing also contacted Jiang. Time published the striking news right away with the title of "Beijing's SARS Attack". In this article, Jiang's letter was translated into English and, for the first time, the public was made aware of the actual situation in China. This letter forced the resignation of the Mayor of Beijing and the Minister of Public Health on April 21, 2003. The Chinese government began to actively deal with the growing epidemic. Most public health experts believe that this act prevented the disease from reaching pandemic proportions.
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