Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

Despite his great reputation and exalted position, Yuan Longp i ng has a most amiable personality and is mu ch loved b y hi s colleagues and subordinates. He is a scientist but his prose reads extremely well, as the fluent style and clear argument in his letters and articles adequately testify. He is fond of music and i s an accomplished violinist. He is also a swimmer w h o has w o n a good n umb er of prizes. Wh i le never fastidious about m i n or details, his thinking i n scientific matters i s extremely we ll structured and disciplined. He has a strong curiosity wh i ch frees h i m f r om the confines o f tradition and encourages h i m to innovate. He has very little regard for material life and his views on money are these : first, i t has to come f r om proper sources, second, it has to be spent properly, third, bo th extravagance and meanness are to be avoided. True to the belief that we d o not bring money w i t h u s into this w o r l d nor tak e it w i t h us w h e n we die , he continues his frugal and carefree lifestyle despite o w n i ng equities w o r t h i n excess of h u n d r ed m i l l i on y u an after the listing of the national enterprise Longp i ng Ag r i c u l t u r al H i g h Technology i n 2000. Prof. Yuan has a good family and a perfect marriage. Ma d am Teng Zhe, his wife , is an outstanding w oman who supports her husband throughout his long research career, sharing w i t h h i m the vicissitudes of lif e and partaking of his strenuous fieldwork. For a long while, wh en Prof. Yuan wo r k ed away f r om home, she ran the household entirely on her o wn and managed to keep both her children and mother-in-law comfortable. The three sons of Prof . and Mrs. Yuan are n ow of age and do i n g well, and the youngest of them is f o l l ow i ng hi s father's footsteps, bein g a doctoral student i n biology at The Chinese University. His research is, understandably, in rice genetic engineering, as it is his intention to help solve the global problem of food shortage. Prof. Yuan is an academician of the Chines e Ac a d emy of Engineering, the Director- General of the China Na t i o n a l H y b r i d Rice Research and Development Centr e and the H u n a n H y b r i d Rice Research Centre, a research f e l l ow at the H u n a n A c a d e my o f Agricultural Sciences, and a principal scientist of Hu n an Province. His public offices include membership o n the Standing Comm i t t ee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice-chairmanship of the H u n a n Province People's Political Consultative Conference and the Science and Technology Association of H u n an Province, Ho n o r a ry Presidency of the H u n an Ac ademy of Ag r i c u l t u r al Sciences, and the chairmanship of the Hu n an Ag r o n omy Society. He has published ove r 60 scientific papers, of wh i c h 17 featured i n international journals , and three of his biographies have appeared. Prof. Yuan L o n g p i ng is a remarkable teacher on t op of his great contributions to ag r i c u l t u r a l science. A p a r t f r om s upe r v i s i ng postgraduate students and establishing foundations to suppor t y o u ng scientists, he has conducted twelve international training courses on rice hybridization. A s a senior scientist he undertook research at the International Institute on H y b r i d Rice on seven occasions and, i n the capacity of Principal Consultant to the FAO, he visited India and Cambodia si x times to giv e advice on the development of h y b r i d rice plantation. A t the m o m e n t over 20 countries and regions the w o r l d over are introducing and carrying out trial s of h y b r i d rice. I n recent years, Vietnam and India have been engaged i n the large-scale p r odu c t i on of h y b r id ric e and, i n 2001, the plantation of h y b r id rice has significantly increased to 450,000 and 200,000 hectares of land respectively . Trials i n the Ph i l i pp i ne s, Bangladesh, T h a i l a nd a nd Bu rma, etc. have also achieved remarkable success. Prof. Yuan is an outstanding i nd i v i dual in the promotion of academic research, national economic development, as we ll as i n the broader field of combating the global food shortage. H is achievements are acknowledged wo r l dw i d e, and his merit w i l l be cherished i n our annals. Mr. Vice-Chancellor, it is n ow m y great pleasure to present Yuan Longp i n g for the award of the degree of Docto r of Science, honoris causa. 47