The Man Who Fed the World: Story of Yuan Longping

Upon hearing about Mr. Yuan’s death, various media outlets reported that he was a Chinese hero, or a national hero  who ended famine in China and Asia, by inventing hybrid rice. 

It is a little bit odd, that a person who was part of the solution to the Great Famine in China, is so widely regarded as a national hero, even by the Chinese government. The confusion, comes from the knowledge that agriculture was more of an ideological issue in China during the Great Leap Forward. 

So, how did one apolitical scientist come to end the hunger in China and Asia? This article will give you a bit of introduction to the Great Famine in China, and how a hybrid invention of a wheat ended years of suffering, and led China to its global rise. 

The Scientist Yuan Longping in 2006. (1)

A Man Marked by Famine

Yuan Longping was born in 1930 in Beijing. His mother taught English, and his father a teacher. He often mentioned an example his mother set for him and his six brothers. Her level of education was very uncommon for 1930s Japanese occupied China. Food was very much rationed during Japanese occupation, so one can say that his goal to end famine, could have started forming in his childhood. 

He enrolled university in 1949, and chose to study agronomy. This choice was very uncommon, given that he did not have a rural background, and both his parents disapproved of his choice. 

It is said that the inspiration behind choosing agriculture came from visiting a farm for a school excursion, and according to New York Times, from and idyllic scene in Charlie Chaplin movie “Modern Times”, where character named Little tramp savours grapes and fresh milk at the doorstep of his home.

His focus was on crop genetics, an especially ideologically tense field in Mao Zedong’s China. 

Mao followed the Soviet doctrine, that the genes of the crops could be directly rewired by altering environmental conditions. 

It was Mr. Yuan’s luck to have continued his specialisation under Guan Xianghuan, a professor who rejected the Soviet doctrine, and that way put himself on the list  by Communist part as the enemy of the state. 

Mr. Yuan graduated in 1953. His great commitment to the field of agriculture came in the late 1950s when he became the witness of Chinese famine. 

Trauma That Guided Him 

It is said the worst famine recorded in modern history, lasted in China from 1958 to 1962, and some reports indicate between 20 and 40 million people died of starvation. 

In China, this period is simply known as the three years of natural disasters. It was without a doubt caused by frenzied effort to colectivize agriculture and jump-start steel production. Mr. Yuan said he saw the bodies of at least five people who had died of starvation by the roadside or in fields.

Upon witnessing horrid events, Mr. Yuan became more determined to solve the problem of famine. He chose to focus on rice production, for two reasons; it was a popular grain with Chinese people, but also rice is main grain of half of the worlds population. 

Mr Yuan found a solution in  growing hybrid varieties of rice. Hybrid rice would be a mixture of wild rice, found near a rail line on Hainan Island in China and commercial strains of rice. 

He was not the only person in the world to start working on hybrid rice. However, he was the one who provided the best paper, in the technological aspect. And suddenly, all other participants papers, that were covering hybrid rice, just didn’t matter. After long research, 1978 marked a start of large-scale production of hybrid rice in Hunan province in southwest China, under Mr Yuan’s supervision, of course.

Hybrid Rice: Solution That Fed Millions

Hybrid rice turned out to be a great success. Most notably, hybrid rice can typically produce 20 to 30 percent more rice per acre, then any other strains of rice. 

Today, in China, the annual planting area of hybrid rice is 57% of total planting area of rice, helping to feed an extra of 80 million people a year. Mr Yuan’s work transformed China from “food deficiency” country to a “food security” country. 

Moreover, the work of Mr. Yuan was part of the “Green Revolution” – a series of inventions in agriculture and crops that transformed global food supplies. Both in China and worldwide, these inventions staved off warnings of overpopulation and mass famine in the 1960s and 1970s. 

In 1980s, Mr. Yuan and his team of rice experts introduced the hybrid strains of rice across Asia and Africa. Together with introducing the farmers to the crop, Mr. Yuan and his team taught farmers various advanced rice-growing techniques. 

Soon, the inventions of Mr. Yuan helped solve the famine in countries like India, Liberia and Madagascar.  

(2) In this Oct. 15, 2017 photo, Yuan Longping, center, stands in a field of hybrid rice in Handan in northern China’s Hebei Province.

 “Chance Favours The Prepared Mind”

Mr. Yuan was always focused on rice, and even after the global success, spent a lot of time in the rice fields. He was also a part various agriculture committees since 1980. 

The Chinese Communist Party always recognised his efforts and successes. He was celebrated by the Party as a model scientist – patriotic, dedicated to solving practical problems, and hardworking. 

To understand the range of how much China owes to Mr. Yuan, it is best to describe, that his inventions led from food insecurity caused by overpopulation, political collapse and ecological disaster, to global superpower. 

Even though it is not calling it the period of famine, Chinese authorities have not forgotten the malnutrition millions of their citizens suffered through. It remained a norm in many parts of China throughout the 1970s, and food rationing only officially ended in 1993. 

Even today, the first central government document issued every year still concerns China’s food supply.

Mr. Yuan was always a humble man, working tirelessly, until his last days. In one video message to Chinese students, he said that his experience can be summoned in four words: Knowledge, sweat, inspiration and opportunity. He also said the famous quote by Louis Pasteur: “Chance favours the prepared mind”. 

There is an important lesson to be learned here; if you have a vision, plan it out. You never know when the time will come to make it real.

Resources:

China’s Yuan Longping dies; rice research helped feed world. (2021). ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/chinas-yuan-longping-father-hybrid-rice-dies-91-77845250

Yuan Longping, Plant Scientist Who Helped Curb Famine, Dies at 90 – The New York Times. (2021, May 23). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/asia/yuan-longping-dead.htm

Palmer, J. (2021, May 26). China Mourns Yuan Longping, Scientist Who Curbed Famine. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/26/china-mourns-scientist-yuan-longping-green-revolution-hybrid-rice/

Historystack. (2015, September 24). Historian Reveals China’s Great Famine Tragedies on YouTube [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nn41SU4BY4

CNA Insider. (2017, March 5). When Sparrows Fall: China’s Great Famine | Asian Century [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojOmUWLDG18

Photo Resources:

(1) The scientist Yuan Longping in 2006. (n.d.). [Photograph]. The New York Times. https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/05/24/world/23yuan-obit-sub/merlin_14232605_97048b70-0e9d-40e1-90a1-9b4c062425c3-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp

(2) Yuan Longpin stands in the field of rice. (n.d.). [Photograph]. ABC News. https://s.abcnews.com/images/Technology/WireAP_184184a0708148418535fb26c24b97c3_16x9_992.jpg