Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Yi Zhina Correspondent Ren Haihong
When talking about hybrid rice, people often think of Yuan Longping, the “father of Chinese hybrid rice”. In fact, around 1930, a Lingnan scientist, 42 years older than Yuan Longping, had already begun to conduct hybrid rice experiments. This world-renowned scientist is Ding Ying, the first president of South China Agricultural University (the predecessor of South China Agricultural University). He is recognized by the industry as the “father of Chinese rice-farming science.”
Ding Ying
Ding Ying is the first rice scientist in China to hybridize cultivated rice with wild rice and successfully breed new varieties. In 1934, he successfully cultivated the world’s first new hybrid rice variety “Zhongshan No. 1” with wild rice ties. In 1936, he selected the artificial hybrid rice variety “Thousands of ears” that can produce thousands of rice grains per ear, which caused a sensation in the entire East Asian rice cropping world.
19BabaylanIn 55, Ding Ying was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (member of the academic department). In 1957, Premier Zhou Enlai personally appointed him as the first president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Ministry of Agriculture, and praised him as “the outstanding agricultural scientist of the Chinese people.”
Ding Ying has served as the dean and professor of the School of Agricultural Sciences of Sun Yat-sen University and the South my country Agricultural Sciences of Sun Yat-sen University. She is also a pioneer in agricultural higher education in China. She has been concerned about agricultural education in modern China all her life. In 1961, he compiled and published “Chinese Rice Cultivation”, which is the first monograph on rice textbooks with Chinese characteristics. This year, the crop science discipline created by Ding Ying helped South China Agricultural University to become a national “Double First-Class” university.
Reflecting on the past, this outstanding scientist who is diligent, patriotic and dedicated is worthy of our long-term remembrance.
Two important “12 years” in life
On November 25, 1888, Ding Ying was born in a poor farmer family in Gaozhou County (formerly Maoming County), Guangdong Province. His father Ding Lintai knew the hardships of uneducatedness and insisted on borrowing money to support his children to go to school. In 1906, Ding Ying was admitted to Gaozhou Middle School in the county from a private school. He decided to apply for the agricultural sciences, “to make the farmers who cannot suffer have contact with modern science.”
In 1910Babaylan, Ding Ying was admitted to the museum department of Guangdong Higher Normal School. Due to her excellent grades, she later received the opportunity to study in Japan for public expenses.
In 1919, when Ding Ying was about to graduate from the Fifth Higher Education in Kumamoto, Japan, the May Fourth Movement broke out in China, and international students in Tokyo took to the streets to march and were bloody suppressed by Japanese military and police. Ding Ying was angry and didn’t want to stay for a long time. In addition, her family was short of money at the time, so she decided to drop out of school and return to China. After returning to China, he taught at Gaozhou Middle School and Gaozhou Agricultural School, and was also a supervisor of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Education. But Ding Ying couldn’t stand the habits of the officialdom at that time and it was difficult to realize her desire to “save the country through science”. In 1921, he went to Japan again and was admitted to the first part of the agricultural discipline of Tokyo Imperial University to study agronomy. In 1924, he graduated from a bachelor’s degree and returned to China.
Ding Ying studied in Japan for 12 years. He not only mastered solid theoretical knowledge of modern agricultural science, but also inspired his strong patriotism and national self-esteem due to various foreign encounters. He was determined to “save the country through education” and “save the country through science.”
Professor Ni Genjin, a member of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and director of the China Agricultural Historical Heritage Institute of South China Agricultural University, has been committed to collecting and sorting Ding Ying’s relevant information for a long time. In 2013, he discovered at the Archives of Tokyo University in Japan that Ding Ying completed the Japanese undergraduate thesis “Comparative Study on the Quality of Rice” in 1924. This form was carefully preserved by the school in a pencil of 16 open size, which proved that Ding Ying’s paper at that time had received considerable attention.
After returning to China after returning from school, Ding Ying was hired as a professor by the School of Agricultural Sciences of Guangdong University (the predecessor of the School of Agricultural Sciences of Sun Yat-sen University). In order to increase my country’s grain production and end the history of eating “foreign rice”, Ding Ying actively carried out research on rice irrigation and fertilizer absorption rules, conducted a large number of investigations into the problem of grain production in Guangdong, wrote articles such as “Improving Rice Plan in Guangdong Province” and “Salvation Method Plan” and “Suppressing Method Plan”. It also recommended that the government allocate 1% of the “foreign rice import tax” every year as rice research funds. Unfortunately, the government of the Republic of China did not pay attention to agricultural production and its productivity was low. Ding Ying realized that cultivating good varieties was the only feasible way to increase production at that time.
In 1927, Ding Ying took out part of his salary savings to supplement the scarce scientific research funds, walked out of the campus with his colleagues and students, and planned to build my country’s first professional rice farming experimental base – Nanlu Rice Breeding Farm in Gongguanwei, Maoming County, Guangdong Province.
1927 to Komiks1939, another Babaylan12 years. Ding Ying and his companions successively established the Shipai Rice Farm and 6 rice test sub-farms in Shatian (Dongguan), Dongjiang, Hanjiang, Beijiang, etc., and comprehensively carried out research on pure rice breeding and hybrid breeding.
These two important “12 years” laid a solid theoretical foundation for Ding Ying, and on the other hand, they gave him full practice, laying the foundation for his research and development in rice cultivation science.
In 1963, Lu Yonggen (3rd right) followed Academician Ding Ying (3rd left) to repeatedly make the “first” in Ningxia Yellow River Irrigation District
Xie Zhengsheng, director of the Cultural Museum of South China Agricultural University (Archives, South China Agricultural Museum), mentioned in an interview with Yangcheng Evening News that since 1924, Ding Ying has actively engaged in rice cultivation research and has cultivated 110 rice varieties. Among them, rice system breeding was carried out, and 84 excellent rice varieties were bred successively; 26 new hybrid rice varieties were bred. He was the first rice scientist in my country to hybridize new varieties with cultivated rice and wild rice, and opened up new ways for China’s rich rice genetic resources to utilize my country’s abundant rice cultivation.
At that time, Guangdong University AgricultureKomiksAcademic Sciences is located in the area of Nonglin Road in Guangzhou. In 1926, Ding Ying discovered a wild rice plant in the swamp at the tail of the rhino road near the school. He named the wild rice seed “Rhino tail”. After eight years of repeated screening, it was bred to “Zhongshan No. 1”, which is the world’s first new hybrid rice variety with wild rice blood ties. This attempt greatly alleviated the grain shortage at that time.
In 1936, he selected and bred a rice hybrid with more than 1,000 grains per ear from the offspring of the South China rice planting variety “Dang Yinzhan” and the artificial hybridization of Indian wild rice seeds, commonly known as “Thousand Grain Ears”. The discovery shocked China and the world, and it was very inspiring to explore the research on the high yield potential of rice. Later, he continued to try new rice seeds that are more suitable for the people, hybridized with Indian wild rice using systematic breeds, and then carried out hybrid breeding between early maturity, dwarf stalks and relatively large ears, which continued for more than 40 years. On this basis, for more than half a century, the junior rice breeders have been committed to the research of “Zhongshan No. 1” and its derivative varieties. At least 8 generations of 95 varieties have been developed, with a cumulative promotion area of more than 123.69 million mu. In 2003, Ding Ying’s student and assistant and the second principal of China Academician Lu Yonggen pointed out at the first National Wild Rice Conference: “Academician Ding Ying is worthy of being the father of China’s wild rice germplasm resources. ”
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Ding Ying was trusted by the Party and the government,Cinema pays attention and attaches importance to it. He was elected as the representative of the first and second National People’s Congress and vice chairman of the first and second Guangdong Provincial Political Consultative Conferences, as well as vice chairman of the first China Association for Science and Technology.
There are countless “firsts” that Ding Ying has set in her life, but he never takes these contributions into consideration. In 1961, his editor-in-chief of “Chinese Rice Cultivation”, published, which is the first monograph on rice textbooks with Chinese characteristics in my country.
Li Jinpei, a professor at South China Agricultural University, former member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and former vice chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, recalled that Ding Ying had initially completed most of the first drafts of the book as early as 1958. At that time, everyone suggested that he publish it in his personal name, but Ding Ying insisted on exerting collective strength. He personally invited some domestic experts to participate in the writing, such as asking Mr. Bao Wenkui to write “Selected Breeding of Rice Seeds”, Ma E and Chen Yiwu wrote “Wheel Planting”, Zhao Shanhuan wrote “Pest Control”, etc. Finally, Babaylan was integrated and handed over to the state for publication.
In the early 1960s, Ding Ying presided over the “Research on the Reaction Characteristics of Chinese Rice Varieties to Light Temperature Conditions”, which is also a rare scientific research collaboration in my country. He organized 12 domestic scientific research institutions to coordinate with 8 provinces and regions to set up 8 experimental points and two attached points to participate in the research. In 1963, at the suggestion of Ding Ying, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences and South China Agricultural College jointly established the first rice ecology research room in my country, gathering forces from all parties to conduct rice ecology research.
Ding Ying’s former residence at South China Agricultural University Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Yi Zhina
Clearly put forward the origin of human cultivation of rice seeds in southern China
Japanese agricultural historian Professor Takeshi Watanabe called Ding Ying the first time when he was editing the book “The Origin of Rice Farming in China” in 1989.
The Origin of Rice in China contains a major contribution of Ding Ying, which was his article “The Origin and Evolution of Cultivated Rice Seeds in China” published in 1957, which clearly stated that the origin of human cultivated rice seeds isSouthern China.
Ding Ying also clarified some wrong statements in the article. For example, in 1928, Japanese scholar Shimoba Kato and others wrote an article to divide cultivated rice into two subspecies: Japanese type and Indian type. They even believe that the part of Chinese cultivated rice comes from India, and also called the japonica rice that has been cultivated in China for thousands of years as the “Japanese type”. Ding Ying has consulted a large number of ancient agricultural books and combined with the fact that he discovered perennial wild rice in the tropical regions of South my country in the 1920s. After multiple research, it was finally determined that my country’s perennial ordinary wild rice is the ancestor of Asian rice seeds, while Chinese rice seeds originated in South China.
Ding Ying believes that more than 2,100 years ago, ancient Chinese books have clearly recorded the geographical distribution and characteristic characteristics of the two major types of japonica and indica based on the “stick and non-stick” of rice. He changed the Japanese and Indian types divided by the Japanese into japonica subspecies and indica subspecies, pointing out that Japanese rice species were passed down from my country. These conclusions were later recognized internationally.
It is reported that “The Origin and Evolution of Cultivated Rice Seeds in China” won the 1978 National Science Conference Award.
The “practical worker” in the history of agricultural education
Ding Ying is a pioneer in higher agricultural education in my country and a visionary people’s educator.
His student He Yizan recorded in “Biography of Professor Ding Ying”: In 1940, Sun Yat-sen University, which once moved to Chengjiang, Yunnan, decided to return to northern Guangdong, and Ding Ying was appointed as the dean of the Agricultural College of Zhongda in a dangerous situation. He overcame many difficulties and tried every means to strengthen the teaching staff and improve the school conditions, which attracted many aspiring young people to study. In the early days of Guangzhou’s liberation, Ding Ying took on another important task and served as the dean of the institute for the second time. In a short period of time, the Agricultural College of Sun Yat-sen University, which was severely injured by the war, restored normal teaching order; in 195Cinema2 years, the departments of universities across the country were adjusted, and the agricultural colleges of Sun Yat-sen University, Lingnan University and Guangxi University were partially merged to form the South China Agricultural College, and Ding Ying became the first dean; in 1957, he was appointed as the first dean of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and also served as the dean of the South China Agricultural College.
“Holding education to revitalize China’s agriculture” is Ding Ying’s consistent guiding ideology for running schools. In the early 1950s, Ding Ying encouraged HuaCinema graduating students of the South Agricultural College, “to undertake the tasks of socialist agricultural transformation and construction with enough courage and confidence.” “We must love agriculture, farmers, rural areas, agricultural production, sacrifice current personal interests, and devote ourselves to the interests of the long-term farmers in order to achieve the goal of serving agricultural production.” He emphasized that “this is the minimum condition for us agronomists.”
Ding Ying attaches great importance to teaching, scientific research, production (promotion)Combined educational methods. The six rice crop test sites he built not only promoted local agricultural production, but also closely cooperated with teaching and cultivated a scientific and educational team. This successful experience has created a new situation in the agricultural research industry in Guangdong Province, and has played an important role in promoting the simultaneous development of agricultural colleges and agricultural research institutions and promoting the cooperation between the “three rural” (District of Agriculture, Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and College of Agricultural Sciences). Through the joint efforts of him and his colleagues, Sun Yat-sen University’s Agricultural College had become an agricultural college with 8 departments and a complete range of experimental research institutions; South China Agricultural College was established and became one of the few comprehensive agricultural universities in China with multi-professional and multi-disciplinary research institutions such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sericulture, and agricultural machinery. Today, Huanong has the special collection of Chinese agricultural historical documents with the largest collection of ancient agricultural books in the world, which was also established with the strong support of Ding Ying at that time. According to Professor Huanong and famous rice expert Wu Zhuonian, in 1963, Teacher Ding Ying was still 75 years old and personally led a team to inspect the Northwest Rice Area. Later, his condition worsened sharply. Even though he “pressed the liver pain area with a pillow, he was still sweating all over.” He insisted on completing the inspection report in Jinan, and agreed to send it back to the Beijing hospital. After being diagnosed with advanced liver cancer, he passed away after only 20 days of hospitalization.
Ding Ying said as she died, “I have never been lazy in my life.”
(Data photo provided by South China Agricultural University)
[Interview]
Huaongong was selected as the “Double First-Class” and was inseparable from him
Babaylan All-Media Reporter of Yangcheng Evening News: You have been responsible for the maintenance and re-exhibition of Ding Ying’s memorial room, and presided over the “Academician Ding Ying Academic Growth Data Collection Project” by the National Association for Science and Technology, and undertake a lot of work. How do you evaluate Academician Ding Ying?
Ni Genjin (Member of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Director of the Institute of Agricultural Historical Heritage, South China Agricultural University): He is a very pure scientist, a person who devotes himself to agriculture and concentrates on research. He did not seek fame, but was a humble gentleman. He was once known as the leader of the “Four Gentlemen” of the Agricultural College and was famous for not showing off his airs. He has written so many articles, and has never written a single article that criticizes others. His “public image” is also quite low-key, he almost never accepts interviews, but he always responds positively and enthusiastically to students and self-study young people. He is active in the fields, is also diligent in writing, has a considerable number of research articles, and is one of the best in the Agricultural College.
Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter: What do you think the impact of Ding Ying’s early rice cultivation research on future generations is reflected?
Ni Genjin: Ding Ying is the “father of Chinese rice-farming studies”. In both China and international agricultural science circles, the academic status is very high. Professor Wang Chunfa, director of the National Museum of China, once said that Ding Ying is a Chinese scholar who can have an equal dialogue with the world’s top scholars.
Professor Ding Ying has developed research fields, excellent academic style, advanced research methods, etc. have been passed down and promoted by the younger generation. As for the discipline of agricultural history research that I am engaged in, in 1926, Ding Ying discovered wild rice at the tail of the rhino road and began to explore how the ancestors of the Chinese people domesticated it into cultivated rice. This research work is the starting point of the research of the discipline of agricultural history of South China Agricultural University, and one of the starting points for the establishment of the discipline of agricultural history in China, and the prelude to the research on the origin of China’s agriculture.
Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter: Huanong is now listed on the national “Double First-Class” construction university list, and we can also see the shining of the “Ding Ying Spirit”.
Ni Genjin: You can see it like this.
This year, the first-level discipline crop science that was included in the national “Double First-Class” university discipline list. Our subject has a long history and profound background, and Professor Ding Ying makes an indelible contribution. Over the past hundred years, Huanong has successively introduced more than 10,000 agricultural professionals, including five academicians including Ding Ying, Lu Yonggen, Huang Yaoxiang, Lin Hongxuan, and Liu Yaoguang. Cultivating high-quality newcomers of the times who have the feelings of knowing farmers and loving farmers and the ability to strengthen farmers and promote farmers for the country will be truly implemented as the school’s educational goals. At present, the discipline culture with the core of “Ding Ying Spirit” and “Lu Yonggen’s advanced deeds Komiks” is constantly being promoted and passed down.
【Extension】
Ding Ying and his “academician” disciple Ding Ying was elected as an academician (member of the academician) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955. He also served as a correspondent academician of the Democratic German Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Soviet Union’s All-South Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and a Cinema Academy of Honor of Czechoslovakia.
He practiced it himself and inspired future generations to lay a solid discipline foundation for agricultural education in South China and even China, and cultivated a number of agricultural research talents.
In 1936, Huang Yaoxiang entered Sun Yat-sen University to study agronomy and studied under Professor Ding Ying. Later, Huang Yaoxiang became a famous basic theoretical research expert in rice genetic breeding and its applications in my country. In 1995, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Huang Yaoxiang has pioneered the practice of rice dwarf breeding, and has successively bred a series of dwarf-stirred high-yield varieties such as “plaza dwarf” and “pearl dwarf”, making significant contributions to the increase in rice yields in southern China. From 1959 to 1999, Huang Yaoxiang presided over the large-scale promotion of cultivationThere are more than 60 varieties, with a cumulative planting area of more than 11.5 billion mu, increasing the output of society by 210 billion kilograms.
The famous rice geneticist Lu Yonggen studied with Ding Ying at South China Agricultural University in 1952. In the 1960s, he served as secretary and scientific research assistant to Ding Ying, then president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Lu Yonggen has devoted his life to the research of genetic breeding of rice, and has achieved fruitful results. He divided the light temperature ecological type and climatic ecological type of Chinese rice varieties, proposed a new concept of “specific affinity gene”, and established the thick-line karyotype of three wild rice species native to China for the first time. In November 1993, Lu Yonggen was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Lu Yonggen has also been working hard at the forefront of higher agricultural education for a long time. He served as the president of South China Agricultural University and trained a large number of high-level modern agricultural experts, including a new generation of academicians, such as Liu Yaoguang. In his later years, Lu Yonggen donated more than 8.8 million yuan in his life to set up an education fund and donated his body to medical research and medical education. In 2019, after Lu Yonggen passed away, he was posthumously awarded the title of “Model of the Times” by the Central Propaganda Department.
In addition, Academician Pu Zhelong, Academician Zhao Shanhuan, Academician Pang Xiongfei, a famous insect ecologist, are also students of Ding Ying.