On March 22nd, 2015, Yuan Longping was photographed inspecting the growth of new varieties of hybrid rice at the base of Longping High-Tech Agriculture Co., Ltd. near Yalong Bay, Sanya. (Photo by Wu Wei /Hainan Daily)

"Our father did not leave any last words, but when he could still talk, he always talked about the cause of hybrid rice. He hopes his students will continue to promote and develop the cause of hybrid rice," Yuan's daughter-in-law, Gan, said tearily in his room at the Xiangya Hospital Central South University on May 22nd.

That day, at 13:07, Yuan Longping, the man known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice", an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and winner of the China’s highest award—the"Order of the Republic"—passed away in Changsha, Hunan. He was 91 years old.

Yuan Longping has confessed on many public occasion his love for Hainan. He first visited Sanya and the Hainan National Breeding and Multiplication Base (sometimes translated as the Nanfan Base) in 1968. In the 50 years since then, the blessed land of Hainan has given him many surprises and bountiful harvests.

Difficulties and Miracles

In Hainan, Yuan Longping encountered both trouble and good fortune: the difficult Hainanese dialect was his trouble, and the agricultural miracle of the land was his good fortune.

Hainanese is a difficult language to learn. However, not understanding Hainanese did not prevent Yuan Longping from setting off on his 50 year long scientific journey of labor at the Hainan National Breeding and Multiplication Base.

In the fall of 1970, one of Yuan Longping’s assistants and a technician from the Nanhong Farm found a male sterile rice plant growing wild in the plantation's swamplands and immediately sent a telegram to Yuan Longping. After getting the message, Yuan Longping hurried back to Sanya and confirmed that this was a wild rice plant with aborted pollen production. He worked to accelerate the reproduction of the plant, and by 1973, tens of thousands of this rice varietal had been planted. All of them were sterile. "At that time I was relieved, I felt like we had finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel!"

The dawn which this ushered in in Sanya provided Yuan Longping with important experimental materials, male sterile wild rice. It helped him in successfully creating a hybrid rice strain with three lines and made China the first country in the world to successfully use heterosis for rice production. As a result, Yuan Longping became known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice."

"Half of the success of hybrid rice, should really be laid at the feet of the HNBM,” Yuan Longping once said. If it weren’t for HNBM shortening the breeding cycle by half, it wouldn’t have been possible for hybrid rice to continue to make so many major breakthroughs.

On May 9 of this year, at the Sanya Paddy Field National Park demonstration site, the final yield of super hybrid rice "Chaoyouqianhao" was 1004.83 kg per mu on average. "With an early rice yield of 1004.83 kg, we can reduce the pressure for late production output. Mr Yuan put forward the goal of having 1500kg per mu in double cropped hybrid rice harvested per year in Sanya last year. He gave us the task and we will do it!" Cao Bing—vice president and researcher of the Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences—said proudly.

A Love for Hainan

“While working at HNBM, we found a wild rice plant with aborted pollen production and successfully achieved the hybrid rice. I love the Hainan National Breeding and Multiplication Base. And, I love Sanya.” In September 2020, Yuan Longping wrote these words to express his love for Hainan.

Yuan Longping's note (Provided by New Hainan APP)

Looking back on his life we can see that, in addition to his lifelong dedication to scientific research and his spirit, Yuan Longping also had many moments in Hainan that made people feel great respect and admiration for him.

In an interview with a reporter from the Hainan Daily in 2019, Yuan Longping told the story of his being recognized by Sanya as an “honorary citizen”. For a long time now, he has regarded this land as his second hometown. He even came up with the English slogan “forever tropical paradise” for Sanya.”

In Sanya, Yuan Longping stayed in an apartment in Lizhigou Town near HNBM’s experimental fields. His apartment was only forty or fifty square meters in size. Although it was small, it was convenient for him. "I have to go to the fields every day. I train my students and the first thing they have to do is going to the fields,”said Yuan Longping.

In Sanya, some of the things he liked to do were eating coconuts, playing volleyball, and going swimming with his granddaughter or visiting the farmers market. At the market, he could still buy a shirt for only a few dozen yuan. He liked the climate and the slow life in Sanya.

“I think I’m doing fine. I am 90 years old but I’m still in good health. I’m not confused or muddled. I still have lots of energy,” he once said jokingly. 

Proficient in multiple languages, Yuan Longping preferred to speak with a mixture of Chinese and English. In January of this year when the 5th International Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Forum kicked off in Sanya, Yuan Longping gave a speech via a video uplink and said that he hoped it is possible to plant 1 million mu (66,600 ha) of brackish water rice in 2021. Finally, he did not forget to say in English: "All the best!"

Realizing the dream of hybrid rice in Hainan

Looking back at this legend’s life, it can be seen that he has been working for the people in his whole life. For a very long time now, Yuan Longping had two dreams: to "enjoy the cool shadow under rice crops taller than men" and that hybrid rice would be grown all over the world. These two dreams were things which still concerned him even as he lay on his deathbed. 

Experts participating in production tests said that in last winter and this spring Hainan's unusually low temperature and low sunshine adversely affected agricultural production, but the performance of the super hybrid rice "Chaoyouqianhao" remained relatively stable and withstood the test of the weather. “We are very confident that we will fulfill Mr Yuan’s wish!” said Cao Bing.

Yuan Longping once said: "I always feel that food security issues are something which we must remain vigilant on." In memory of this amazing man, we would like to take today to continue to work to strengthen the integration of agriculture and technology, to strengthen agricultural science and innovative technology, and to do everything we can to ensure national food security. 

At the moment, Hainan is actively promoting the construction of a "HNBM Silicon Valley” to ensure Hainan’s ongoing contribution to developments in seed research. Yuan Longping once said: "Hainan is my paradise. For decades now, many of my important scientific researches took place in Hainan." It is our hope that this hot land will continue to exhibit the spirit of Yuan Longping and bring forth ongoing miracles for the seed breeding industry.