Flowers are laid at a makeshift memorial to mourn Yuan Longping, a Chinese agronomist known for developing the first hybrid rice varieties in the 1970s, at Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, yesterday. SD-Agencies
Yuan Longping wearing the Medal of the Republic, China’s highest State honor, Sept. 28, 2019. Xinhua
Chinese scientist Yuan Longping, dubbed “Father of Hybrid Rice” who is renowned for developing the first hybrid rice strain that relieved countless people of hunger, died of organ failure at 91 on Saturday.
He passed away in a hospital in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, at around 1 p.m., according to the hospital. He is survived by his wife, three sons and several grandchildren.
Family members hummed Yuan’s favorite songs to him in his final hours, Xinhua reporters at the site said.
Large crowds of people were seen gathering outside the hospital to bid farewell to Yuan on Saturday, shouting “Rest in peace, Grandpa Yuan!” as the hearse left the hospital at 4 p.m.
Yuan had been under medical treatment after suffering a tumble in March when conducting research at a seed-breeding base in Hainan Province.
Medics said that Yuan, preoccupied by the growth of hybrid rice, had been regularly checking the weather and temperatures during his stay in hospital.
“He was already in very poor health, but still cared about his rice crops,” his doctor said.
President Xi Jinping extended his deep condolences to Yuan’s family yesterday.
In a message conveyed by Hunan Party chief Xu Dazhe, Xi highly praised Yuan’s contribution to China’s food security, agricultural technology innovation and world food development.
The United Nations praised Yuan as a true food hero.
“Today, we mourn the passing of a true food hero. Chinese scientist Yuan Longping saved millions of people from hunger,” the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs tweeted. “His legacy and his mission to end hunger lives on.”
Yuan, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has helped China work a great wonder — feeding nearly one-fifth of the world’s population with less than 9 percent of the world’s total arable land.
Yuan succeeded in cultivating the world’s first high-yield hybrid rice strain in 1973, which was later grown on a large scale in China and other countries to substantially raise output.
Over the next four decades, he continued to research and upgrade hybrid rice, which has now reached its third generation. His recent achievements included developing varieties of saline-alkali tolerant rice. In January, his team said they planned to use the rice to transform 6.7 million hectares of saline-alkali land in China in the next eight to 10 years.
Yuan’s lifelong dedication to reducing hunger has made him a national hero and household name in China.
In 1999, an asteroid discovered by the national astronomical observatories was named after Yuan. In 2019, he was awarded the Medal of the Republic, China’s highest State honor.