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 de-
termined 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dr. Li Wenliang Con-
gressional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Dr. Li Wenliang was a 34-year-old ophthal-
mologist in Wuhan, China, who died from COVID– 
19 after he bravely sought to draw attention to the 
spread of the virus despite the Government of the 
People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Com-
munist Party’s effort to suppress him. 
(2) In December 2019, Dr. Li Wenliang coura-
geously notified his medical colleagues in China 
about the outbreak of a novel coronavirus known as 
COVID–19. 
(3) On January 3, 2020, after raising concerns 
about the spread of COVID–19, Dr. Li Wenliang 
was detained and questioned by Chinese officials for 
‘‘spreading false rumors’’ and forced to sign a state-
ment retracting his warnings about COVID–19. 
(4) Dr. Li Wenliang continued to work at 
Wuhan Central Hospital despite his knowledge of 
the outbreak. 
(5) Tragically Dr. Li Wenliang died in Feb-
ruary 2020 in the hospital where he worked after 
contracting COVID–19. 
(6) Before his death, Dr. Li Wenliang stated, 
‘‘If the officials had disclosed information about the 
epidemic earlier, I think it would have been a lot 
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better. There should be more openness and trans-
parency.’’. 
(7) The people of China expressed their grief 
and anger on social media after the death of Dr. Li 
Wenliang with the phrase ‘‘I want freedom of 
speech’’, which was quickly censored by the Govern-
ment of the People’s Republic of China and the Chi-
nese Communist Party. 
(8) The People’s Republic of China and the 
Chinese Communist Party inflicted incalculable dam-
age on their people and the world by trying to extin-
guish the news of the COVID–19 rather than mobi-
lize global efforts to battle it. 
(9) Awarding Dr. Li Wenliang the Congres-
sional Gold Medal would recognize his bold actions 
to draw attention to the spread of COVID–19 and 
call global attention to the People’s Republic of 
China and the Chinese Communist Party’s lack of 
transparency and censorship of speech. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 
for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Con-
gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemo-
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ration of Dr. Li Wenliang’s efforts to save lives by drawing 
awareness to COVID–19 and his call for transparency in 
China. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 
of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
retary. The design shall bear an image of and the name 
of Dr. Li Wenliang. 
(c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 
shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 
it shall be available for display as appropriate and 
made available for research. 
(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 
Congress that the Smithsonian Institution shall 
make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 
available for display elsewhere, particularly at appro-
priate locations dedicated to preserving the history 
of the Chinese pro-democracy movement. 
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 
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a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 
51 of title 31, United States Code. 
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 
items. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 
SALE. 
(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 
this Act. 
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 
Enterprise Fund. 
Æ 
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