Thanks to the hybrid rice that was discovered by Yuan Longping, the hunger problem of thousands of Chinese people was mostly fixed in the 1980s.
On Sept 8th, Yuan, together with two other scientists, won China's 2018 Future Science Prize, for his continuous research on rice. Even on his 88th birthday on Sept 7th, he took part in the International Development Forum of Rice Production in Hunan province. Although he was recovering from an illness at the time, he was happy to talk to reporters about his latest work on seawater rice.
Yuan has been researching on rice since he was at college. In 1964, he discovered a natural hybrid rice plant in Hainan. Since then, he has focused on developing high﹣yield, hybrid rice varieties(多样性). In 1973. he became the first to successfully cultivate(培育) a type of hybrid rice species in the world. With the hard work of Yuan's group for about ten years, the production of the rice was increased.(From 150 kg per mu (亩) to 500 kg per mu and more. )These varieties now take up about two thirds of China's rice crop, according to China News. So, it's no wonder that he's known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice".
And because of China's Belt and Road (一带一路)initiative. Yuan's hybrid rice is helping to solve food problems around the world. Indeed, according to Xinhua News Agency, hybrid rice plants in Kenya produce four to five times more rice than the country's usual nice plants.
With a rising fame all over the world, Yuan gave a speech in English at the 9th Shandong High﹣Level Talents Forum in Qingdao last year. His speech made him an internet sensation. Beginning with" I speak broken English", his 20﹣minute speech turned out to be a huge success, with barely any pauses or mistakes. The humble Yuan was simply being modest during his speech. According to an article in 1999 by CNN, the scientist speaks both English and Russian fluently. "I never need an interpreter when I go overseas," he told the US news network.
But in spite of his great knowledge, Yuan understands that even the wisest people should still be open to learn new things. "The farmers of our country possess rich experience in planting rice," he told Xinhua." We should learn from them."
