Dr. Jiang Yanyong, who bravely revealed the truth about the Beijing epidemic during the SARS outbreak before 2003, passed away on March 11. The news of his death was made public two days later. The 92-year-old man, known as a “conscience doctor,” was deeply mourned by the people. The historical events of 20 years ago were revived amidst various evasive words, a time when Jiang Yanyong spoke the truth.
Over the past 20 years, first SARS and then COVID-19, the death of Jiang Yanyong has sparked a direct sense of the past and present, and the comparison between the two, among the public. Those who commemorate Jiang Yanyong have introduced the performance of public health events in different eras, and measured the realm of expression of typical figures in historical events, filled with the feeling of lament and sorrow.
The reason why Jiang Yanyong broke through the early cover-up of SARS was due to his professional understanding and straightforward character. A doctor’s benevolent heart must speak the truth, otherwise, one can only sacrifice life in vain. This simple value comes from his experience in practicing medicine, and has also been tempered through the revolutionary era and even the period of turmoil. It can be said that Jiang Yanyong’s life experience and lifestyle were about speaking the truth.
In the cover story of Yazhou Zhoukan, Jiang Yanyong explained his motivation for speaking the truth: The people’s interests are above all else. Looking back at Jiang Yanyong’s life 20 years later, one can easily see the genuine feelings of that generation of intellectuals for the people and their faith, as well as their response and practice of this emotion in concrete actions. Speaking the truth is not only his character, but also makes him a free man.
During the SARS period, this kind of free will was powerfully embodied in Jiang Yanyong’s heroic act of walking alone, and was guided by triggering changes in epidemic prevention and saving millions of lives, glorifying free will, and writing a moral height and rational achievement that a free man could achieve by upholding conscience and professionalism. With Jiang Yanyong gone, those who commemorate him think of this, and feel even more regret.
Because of Jiang Yanyong’s courage, after three years of the epidemic, the people, looking back at the various aspects of the epidemic-stricken society of more than a thousand days before, have comparisons, measurements, and their own conclusions. In comparison, they will naturally have historical reflections on Jiang Yanyong’s yesterday and the reality of the people, and have a deep understanding of speaking the truth, a basic quality of human beings.
Because of this relationship, commemorating Jiang Yanyong has become commemorating speaking the truth, and commemorating Jiang Yanyong who spoke the truth has become commemorating a free man who has passed away forever. And in this logical progression of commemoration, anyone who values the power of truth will, when recalling Dr. Jiang Yanyong 20 years ago, look around at the present, and even inevitably reflect on themselves, with great ambition or silent contemplation.
In the ranks of those commemorating Jiang Yanyong, what is overflowing and consciously shared by the commemorators is the recognition of speaking the truth as a way of expressing truth. And through this widespread spontaneous commemoration, the shock it causes in people’s hearts will inevitably awaken the motivation of ordinary people to strive to be free men to varying degrees. The connection between Jiang Yanyong and the commemorators and those who come after will also be deeply rooted in this.
This is the value of Jiang Yanyong. After more than 20 years of changes in the times, he used his righteous deeds before his death to highlight the professional mission of speaking the truth, and through the remembrance after his death, he concisely conveyed the essence of speaking the truth and the essence of being human to more people. Jiang Yanyong, with his self-awareness and tenacity as a free man, weighed the importance of truth and the world.
For many years, speaking the truth seems out of place, especially in major, continuous events that the whole society likes, the truth does not always receive a warm welcome, and even suffers unimaginable treatment. When Dr. Jiang Yanyong was alive, he could still use his personal deeds to refute various criticisms and sophistry against the truth. Now that he has passed away, the relationship between truth and freedom awaits new confirmation.
This is also the legacy that Dr. Jiang Yanyong left to the world, that is, speaking the truth is always the basic infrastructure for protecting the public interest, and speaking the truth, as the core quality of individuals, groups, and society, cultivates the total amount of free will of a person and a society. And when Dr. Jiang leaves this public legacy to those who come after, he will also put a more lasting question before the commemorators.
In the past twenty years, two major pandemics have condensed in Jiang Yanyong, telling the story of a person speaking the truth. And the main theme emphasized by this story is that speaking the truth is not a task to be completed, but a continuous demand for change. Commemorating Dr. Jiang Yanyong of yesterday is not only commemorating an ideal figure, but also confirming this demand and its conversion into the quality of a free man.
Image source: Tuotou Juren (Li Xiaoqiang)
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