I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 896 
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 5, 2021 
Mr. ROY (for himself, Mr. BABIN, Mr. DAVIDSON, Mr. BUDD, Mr. WEBER 
of Texas, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. PERRY, Mr. STEWART, 
and Mr. CRENSHAW) 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 with-
in 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’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Dr. Li Wenliang was a 34-year-old ophthal-
mologist in Wuhan, China, who died from the 2019 
novel coronavirus (COVID–19) after he sought to 
draw attention to the spread of the virus despite the 
Chinese government’s effort to suppress him. 
(2) Research indicates that the first patient in-
fected with COVID–19 exhibited symptoms in early 
December 2019, if not earlier. 
(3) In December 2019, Dr. Li Wenliang noti-
fied his colleagues in the medical community in 
China about the outbreak of COVID–19. 
(4) On January 3, 2020, after raising concerns 
about the spread of COVID–19, Dr. Li Wenliang 
and seven other doctors were detained and ques-
tioned by Chinese officials. Dr. Li Wenliang was 
forced to sign a statement retracting his warnings 
about the virus and confessing that he had spread 
illegal rumors. 
(5) Chinese government authorities played down 
dangers to the public for weeks as COVID–19 con-
tinued to spread, with more than 42,000 confirmed 
cases in China alone and at least 1,000 deaths re-
ported as of February 11, 2020. 
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(6) Dr. Li Wenliang continued to work at 
Wuhan Central Hospital despite his knowledge of 
the outbreak, and appears to have been infected 
himself with COVID–19 after coming in contact 
with a patient he was treating. 
(7) In February 2020, in the hospital where he 
worked, Dr. Li Wenliang died after contracting 
COVID–19. 
(8) 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 
better. There should be more openness and trans-
parency.’’. 
(9) 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. 
(10) The Chinese government inflicted incalcu-
lable damage on their own people and the rest of the 
world by trying to extinguish the news of the 
COVID–19 rather than mobilize global efforts to 
battle it. 
(11) Awarding Dr. Li Wenliang the Congres-
sional Gold Medal, would not only recognize his bold 
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actions to draw attention to the spread of COVID– 
19, but call global attention to China’s lack of trans-
parency 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-
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. 
(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. 
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(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 
under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 
and the cost of the gold medal. 
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 section 
5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 
under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 
Æ 
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