Jiang joined the People's Liberation Army in 1954 and was assigned to the 301 Hospital in Beijing. In 1987, Jiang was named the hospital's chief surgeon. He held the military rank of Major General. In June 1989, Jiang witnessed the results of the trauma inflicted on the students during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. 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 and Phoenix TV 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. In February 2004, Jiang wrote an open letter to Premier Wen Jiabao, several vice premiers, the Politburo members and many other members of the Chinese government. 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. On June 2, 2004, two days before the 15th anniversary of the massacre, Jiang Yanyong's family in California reported that he and his wife were missing from their house in Beijing after being arrested and placed under military custody. He was released on July 19, 2004. In March 2019, he wrote to Chinese Communist Partygeneral secretaryXi 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".
