On May 22, 2021, Chinese scientist Yuan Longping passed away at 91. Yuan was an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering (中国工程院院士). He spent over 50 years working on hybrid rice(杂交水稻). People call him the "father of hybrid rice".
For Chinese families, rice is an important part of almost every meal. But in the past, not having enough rice was a big problem. In the 1960s, people in China didn't have enough food to eat. Many people even died because of this. As a young student, Yuan was sad to see this. He decided to study agriculture(农业). His mother worried this work would be hard. But Yuan said, "Having enough food was the most important thing for us. "
He spent four years looking for wild rice that could be crossed (杂交) with other plants. In 1964, he found it! In 1973, he grew the world's first hybrid rice strain (品种). It could reach a yield(出产量) of over 500 kg per mu, it could feed about 70, 000, 000 more people every year! In later years ， Yuan and his team kept on studying. In 1996, Yuan started growing super hybrid rice. Its output was even higher.
Yuan's hybrid rice is also grown around the world. People plant it in countries such as India, Vietnam (越南) and the US. It has pulled millions of people out of hunger.
Yuan once said he had two dreams. one was to someday stand under rice crops that were taller than men. The other was to grow hybrid rice all over the world and save people from hunger. One day his dreams might come true.
①Canada ②India ③Vietnam ④America
