Jiang Yanyong

Jiang Yanyong (1931 to 2023) was a Chinese physician who publicized the official coverup of the SARS epidemic in mainland China. Born into the family that ran the Zhejiang Xingye Bank, he studied at Yenching University and Peking Union Medical College, joined the People's Liberation Army in 1954 and worked at the 301 Hospital in Beijing, where he became chief surgeon in 1987 and held a rank equivalent to a United States Major General. In April 2003 he emailed a letter to television stations stating that the government was understating the case count, and the information reached Western news organizations; the disclosure led to the dismissal of Beijing's mayor and the health minister. He was later detained and placed under periodic house arrest after criticizing the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.