I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 948 

To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. Li Wenliang, 

in recognition of his efforts to save lives by drawing awareness to 

COVID–19 and his call for transparency in China. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2023 

Mr. ROY (for himself and Mr. BABIN) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the 

Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. 

Li Wenliang, in recognition of his efforts to save lives 

by drawing awareness to COVID–19 and his call for 

transparency in China. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dr. Li Wenliang Con5 gressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Dr. Li Wenliang was a 34-year-old ophthal2 mologist in Wuhan, China, who died from COVID– 

3 19 after he bravely sought to draw attention to the 

4 spread of the virus despite the Government of the 

5 People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Com6 munist Party’s effort to suppress him. 

7 (2) In December 2019, Dr. Li Wenliang coura8 geously notified his medical colleagues in China 

9 about the outbreak of a novel coronavirus known as 

10 COVID–19. 

11 (3) On January 3, 2020, after raising concerns 

12 about the spread of COVID–19, Dr. Li Wenliang 

13 was detained and questioned by Chinese officials for 

14 ‘‘spreading false rumors’’ and forced to sign a state15 ment retracting his warnings about COVID–19. 

16 (4) Dr. Li Wenliang continued to work at 

17 Wuhan Central Hospital despite his knowledge of 

18 the outbreak. 

19 (5) Tragically Dr. Li Wenliang died in Feb20 ruary 2020 in the hospital where he worked after 

21 contracting COVID–19. 

22 (6) Before his death, Dr. Li Wenliang stated, 

23 ‘‘If the officials had disclosed information about the 

24 epidemic earlier, I think it would have been a lot 


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1 better. There should be more openness and trans2 parency.’’. 

3 (7) The people of China expressed their grief 

4 and anger on social media after the death of Dr. Li 

5 Wenliang with the phrase ‘‘I want freedom of 

6 speech’’, which was quickly censored by the Govern7 ment of the People’s Republic of China and the Chi8 nese Communist Party. 

9 (8) The People’s Republic of China and the 

10 Chinese Communist Party inflicted incalculable dam11 age on their people and the world by trying to extin12 guish the news of the COVID–19 rather than mobi13 lize global efforts to battle it. 

14 (9) Awarding Dr. Li Wenliang the Congres15 sional Gold Medal would recognize his bold actions 

16 to draw attention to the spread of COVID–19 and 

17 call global attention to the People’s Republic of 

18 China and the Chinese Communist Party’s lack of 

19 transparency and censorship of speech. 

20 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

21 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

22 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem23 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

24 for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Con25 gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H948.IH H948

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1 ration of Dr. Li Wenliang’s efforts to save lives by drawing 

2 awareness to COVID–19 and his call for transparency in 

3 China. 

4 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 

5 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

6 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec7 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

8 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec9 retary. The design shall bear an image of and the name 

10 of Dr. Li Wenliang. 

11 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 

13 gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 

14 shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 

15 it shall be available for display as appropriate and 

16 made available for research. 

17 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

18 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution shall 

19 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 

20 available for display elsewhere, particularly at appro21 priate locations dedicated to preserving the history 

22 of the Chinese pro-democracy movement. 

23 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

24 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

25 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 


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1 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

2 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 

3 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

4 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu5 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

6 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

7 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

8 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

9 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

10 items. 

11 SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 

12 SALE. 

13 (a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 

14 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

15 Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec16 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 

17 this Act. 

18 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

19 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

20 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

21 Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


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