Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

Yuan Longp i ng Rice fields that are luxuriantly verdant i n early spring and glittering gol d i n late au t umn f o rm an ideal picture that has recurred i n the Chinese m i n d since ancient times , as it augurs we ll for the healthy g r ow th of crops and a rich harvest of grain. Today, the dream of bygone millenniums has come true, and the one who has realized this green dream b y creating the magical rice of the East is Professor Yuan Longping, the Tather of H y b r id Rice'. Prof. Yuan Longping's f am i ly came f r om De'an i n Jiangxi Province, and he himsel f was b o rn in Peking Un i on Medical College Hospital i n 1930, the second of five boys. His father w o r k ed for the Be i j i ng -Wuhan Ra i l way and hi s mother attended a c h u r c h - r un secondary school I t was a w a r m and enlightened family, an d his mother wa s the y o u ng Longping's first teacher o£ English . She also made sure that traditional value s such as 'to study more, to make progress and to do goo d to others' were effectively implanted i n his y o u ng mind. Thus Prof. Yua n has cultivated a studious disposition and a deep concern fo r the public good since an early age . It was d u r i ng an outing to the countryside , wh i le at p r i ma r y school i n Wuhan, that he became impresse d b y w h a t he saw i n a ho r t i c u l t u r al farm. The trees, flowers and f r u it fascinated his y o u ng m i n d and kindled his interest i n gardening and agriculture. He made a promise to himself, there and then, that he w o u l d make agriculture his lifelong pursuit, and to this day he has no t deviated f r om that course. I n 1949 Yuan L o n g p i ng we nt to Ch o n g q i ng and enrolled at Shuanghui College. I n 1950, w i t h the r e s t r u c t u r i n g of i n s t i t u t i ons of tertiary education all over th e country, Shuanghui College was annexed by Southwestern Agricultural College wh i ch subsequently became Southwestern Ag r i c u l t u r al University. He graduated in the summer of 1953 and was assigned teaching responsibilities i n an agricultural school i n Anjiang, Hunan. I n this part of the country, k n o w n for bein g un c ou t h since ancient times , Yuan L o n g p i ng began his career, quietly tilling the lan d and teaching his students. Du r i ng the early 1960s the country was suffering from exceptionally poor spring harvests. Yuan L o n g p i ng wa s mu ch upset b y the acute shortage of food. I n China foo d has always been regarded as important as heaven itself, and n ow tha t there was a ren t i n the firmament it had to be mende d by someone like the goddess N u wa o f old, who laboured hard for the relief of mankind. A t this point Yuan Longp i ng reaffirmed his y ou t h f ul resolve, and began 44