Jiang joined the
People's Liberation Army in 1954 and was assigned to the
301 Hospital (PLA General Hospital) in Beijing. In 1987, Jiang was named the hospital's chief surgeon. In June 1989, Jiang witnessed the results of the trauma inflicted on the students during the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. While the
SARS virus began spreading in mainland China in late 2002 and early 2003, the number of cases being reported in mainland China was drastically understated by the government. On 4 April 2003, Jiang emailed an 800-word letter to Chinese Central Television -4 (
CCTV4) and
Phoenix TV (Hong Kong) reporting that fact. Although neither of the two replied or published his letter, the information was leaked to the Western news organizations. On 8 April 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". The letter asked for a re-examination of the responsibility borne by the Chinese government for the
Tiananmen Square Massacre. A number of media sources indicate that because of Jiang Yanyong's senior rank the topic of what to do with him was discussed by the
Politburo. He was released on 19 July 2004. In March 2019, he wrote to
Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping calling the crackdown on
student protests in Tiananmen Square a crime. Jiang's friends then reported that they lost contact with him and believed he was under house arrest. In February 2020, it was reported that he "has been placed under de facto house arrest since last year". ==Death==