View source for Yuan Longping

{{Short description|Chinese agronomist (1930–2021)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates |date=January 2021}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Yuan (surname)|Yuan]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Yuan Longping
| native_name         = {{nobold|袁隆平}}
| native_name_lang    = zh-Hans-CN
| image               = Yuan Longping at news conference (cropped).png
| caption             = Yuan Longping in 2019
| office              = Vice Chairman of the Hunan Provincial [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference|CPPCC]] Committee<br />{{small|(6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th)}}
| term_start          = January 1988
| term_end            = January 2016
| 1blankname          = Chairman
| 1namedata           = [[Liu Zheng (politician)|Liu Zheng]]→[[Liu Fusheng]]→[[Wang Keying]]→[[Hu Biao]]→[[Chen Qiufa]]
| office1             = Member of the Standing Committee of the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference|CPPCC]]<br />{{small|(6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)}}
| term_start1         = June 1983
| term_end1           = March 2018
| 1blankname1         = Chairman
| 1namedata1          = [[Deng Yingchao]] → [[Li Xiannian]] → [[Li Ruihuan]] → [[Jia Qinglin]] → [[Yu Zhengsheng]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1930|9|7}}
| birth_place         = [[Peking Union Medical College Hospital]], [[Beijing]], [[Republic of China (1912-1949)|China]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2021|5|22|1930|9|7}}
| death_place         = [[Xiangya Hospital]], [[Changsha]], [[Hunan]], China
| education           = [[High School Affiliated to Nanjing Normal University]]
| alma_mater          = [[Southwest Agricultural College]]
| occupation          = Inventor
| profession          = Agronomist 
| nationality         = Chinese
| known_for           = [[Hybrid rice]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|Deng Ze|1964|2021}}
| children            = 2
| awards              = [[State Preeminent Science and Technology Award]] (2001)<br />[[Wolf Prize in Agriculture]] (2004)<br />[[World Food Prize]] (2004)<br />[[Confucius Peace Prize]] (2012)<br />[[Order of the Republic (China)|Order of the Republic]] (2019)
| signature           = 
| signature_alt       = 
| signature_size      = 
| module              = {{Chinese |child=yes |s=袁隆平 |t=袁隆平 |p=Yuán Lóngpíng |order=st|w=Yuan Lung-p'ing|mi={{IPAc-cmn|yuan|2|-|l|ong|2|-|p|ying|2}}}}
}}

'''Yuan Longping''' ({{zh|c=袁隆平|p=Yuán Lóngpíng}}; September 7, 1930{{spnd}}May 22, 2021) was a Chinese agronomist and inventor. He was a member of the [[Chinese Academy of Engineering]] known for developing the first [[hybrid rice]] varieties in the 1970s, part of the [[Green Revolution]] in agriculture.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/asia/yuan-longping-dead.html|title= Yuan Longping, Plant Scientist Who Helped Curb Famine, Dies at 90|newspaper= The New York Times|date= May 23, 2021|access-date= 26 May 2021|last1= Bradsher|first1= Keith|last2= Buckley|first2= Chris|archive-date= May 26, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210526013958/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/asia/yuan-longping-dead.html|url-status= live}}</ref> For his contributions, Yuan is known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice".<ref>{{cite web|year=2004|title=Dr. Monty Jones and Yuan Longping|url=https://www.worldfoodprize.org/en/laureates/20002009_laureates/2004_jones_and_yuan/|access-date=2017-10-24|publisher=[[World Food Prize]]|archive-date=June 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625025623/https://www.worldfoodprize.org/en/laureates/20002009_laureates/2004_jones_and_yuan/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=CCTV-"杂交水稻之父"袁隆平|trans-title="Father of hybrid rice" Yuan Longping|url=http://news.cctv.com/special/C18407//index.shtml|access-date=2017-10-24|publisher=[[China Central Television]]|archive-date=September 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909013119/http://news.cctv.com/special/C18407//index.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> Yuan was bestowed the [[Medal of the Republic (China)|Medal of the Republic]], the highest honorary medal of the People's Republic of China, in September 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |title=全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于授予国家勋章和国家荣誉称号的决定_滚动新闻_中国政府网 |url=https://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2019-09/17/content_5430671.htm |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=www.gov.cn}}</ref>

Hybrid rice has since been grown in dozens of countries in Africa, America, and Asia—boosting food security and providing a robust food source in areas with a high risk of [[famine]]. The technology allowed China to sustain 20% of the global population on 9% of global arable land, an achievement in food security for which he was awarded the 2004 [[World Food Prize]] and the 2004 [[Wolf Prize in Agriculture]] respectively.<ref name="Yuan death" /><ref name=":1" />

== Early life and education ==
Yuan was born at [[Peking Union Medical College Hospital]] in [[Beijing]], [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]] on September 7, 1930, to Yuan Xinglie and Hua Jing. He was the second of six siblings.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.shobserver.com/staticsg/wap/newsDetail?id=361144 |title=Archived copy |access-date=May 25, 2021 |archive-date=October 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007212728/https://www.shobserver.com/staticsg/wap/newsDetail?id=361144 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kemp|first=Robert|title=Yuan Longping, father of hybrid rice, dies aged 91 - RTHK|url=https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1592170-20210522.htm?|access-date=2021-05-22|website=news.rthk.hk|language=en-gb|archive-date=May 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522144855/https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1592170-20210522.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="nytimes" /> His ancestral home is in [[De'an County]], [[Jiujiang]], [[Jiangxi]] Province in Southern China.{{sfn|Yuan|Xin|2014|loc=chpt. 1}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.wenming.cn/zt/2010-11/14/content_21389043_1.htm |title=杂交水稻之外的袁隆平 |work=[[Jiefang Daily]] |language=zh-cn |date=14 November 2010 |access-date=23 May 2021 |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522105839/http://archive.wenming.cn/zt/2010-11/14/content_21389043_1.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> During the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] and the [[Chinese Civil War]], he moved with his family and attended school in many places, including [[Hunan]], [[Chongqing]], [[Hankou]] and [[Nanjing]].{{sfn|Yuan|Xin|2014|loc=chpt. 1}}

He graduated from [[Southwest Agricultural College]] (now part of [[Southwest University]]) in 1953.

==Career==
Yuan began his teaching career at the Anjiang Agricultural School, Hunan Province.<ref name="Wu2021">{{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Shellen X. |title=Yuan Longping (1930–2021) Crop scientist whose high-yield hybrid rice fed billions. |journal=Nature |date=2021 |volume=595 |page=26 |doi=10.1038/d41586-021-01732-2 |s2cid=235633772 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01732-2 |access-date=25 June 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the 1960s he had the idea of hybridizing rice to increase its yield after reading of similar research that was underway successfully in maize and sorghum.<ref name="RaoYi2021" /> Undertaking this hybridization was important because the first generation of hybrids is typically more vigorous and productive than either parent.<ref name="Wu2021" />

For the rest of his life Yuan devoted himself to the research and development of better rice varieties.

The biggest problem was that rice is a self-pollinating plant. Hybridization requires separate male and female plants as parents. The small rice flowers contain both male and female parts. Although the male parts can be removed, carefully, by hand (to produce female-only flowers), this is not practical on a large scale. It was thus difficult to produce hybrid rice in large quantities. In 1961 he spotted a seed-head of wild hybrid rice.<ref name="Wu2021" /> By 1964, Yuan hypothesized that naturally-mutated male-sterile rice could exist and could be used for the creation of new hybrid rice varieties. He and a student spent the summer searching for male sterile rice plants. Two years later he reported in a scientific publication<ref name="Yuan1966">{{cite journal |last1=Yuan |first1=L. P. |title=A preliminary report on male sterility on rice (Oryza sativa L.) |journal=Science Bulletin (English Version) |date=15 April 1966 |volume=17 |issue=7 |url=https://inf.news/en/science/4add03838c7dabee76e8f6970ca78742.html |access-date=26 June 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> that he had found a few individuals of male-sterile rice with potential for production of hybrid rice.<ref name="Wu2021" /> Subsequent experiments proved his original hypothesis feasible, which proved to be his most important contribution to hybrid rice.<ref name="Wu2021" />

[[File: Yuan Longping in 1953.jpg|thumb|Yuan Longping in 1953 in [[Southwest University]]. Yuan is in the back row, third from the left.]]
[[File:Yuan Longping in 1962.jpg|thumb|Yuan Longping in 1962]]

Yuan went on to solve more problems over the next decades to achieve higher yielding hybrid rice. This took more than a decade.<ref name="RaoYi2021" /> The first experimental hybrid rice did not show any significant advantage over commonly grown varieties, so Yuan suggested crossbreeding cultivated rice varieties with ones growing wild in the countryside.<ref name="Economist-obit" /> In 1970, beside a railway line in Hainan, he and his team found a particularly important wild variety.<ref name="Economist-obit">{{Cite news|date=2021-05-29|title=Obituary Yuan Longping|url=https://www.economist.com/obituary/2021/05/29/yuan-longping-died-on-may-22nd|newspaper=The Economist|volume=439 Number 9247|pages=86|access-date=June 7, 2021|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624184507/https://www.economist.com/obituary/2021/05/29/yuan-longping-died-on-may-22nd|url-status=live}}</ref> Using this one within a breeding programme resulted in varieties with yields improved by 20 - 30% in the late 1970s.<ref name="Economist-obit" /> For this achievement, Yuan Longping was dubbed the "Father of Hybrid Rice."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldfoodprize.org/index.cfm/87428/40007/a_worldbrand_name_yuan_longping_the_father_of_hybrid_rice|title=A World-Brand Name: Yuan Longping, The Father of Hybrid Rice|last=globalreach.com|first=Global Reach Internet Productions, LLC - Ames, IA -|website=www.worldfoodprize.org|language=en|access-date=2018-05-02|archive-date=December 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212072212/https://www.worldfoodprize.org/index.cfm/87428/40007/a_worldbrand_name_yuan_longping_the_father_of_hybrid_rice|url-status=live}}</ref>

At present, as much as 50 percent of China's total number of [[Paddy field|rice paddies]] grow Yuan Longping's hybrid rice and these hybrid rice paddies yield 60 percent of the total rice production in China.<ref name=":1" /> China's total rice output rose from 56.9 million tons in 1950 to 194.7 million tons in 2017.<ref name="Economist-obit" /> The annual yield increase is enough to feed 70 million additional people.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Wang|first=Ling|date=2015-03-01|title=Yuan Longping: hybrid rice is on the way to fulfilling its potential|journal=Science Bulletin|language=en|volume=60|issue=6|pages=657–660|doi=10.1007/s11434-015-0755-6|bibcode=2015SciBu..60..657W|s2cid=97036223 |issn=2095-9273|doi-access=}}</ref>

The "Super Rice" Yuan worked on improving showed a 30 percent higher yield, compared to common rice, with a record yield of 17,055 kilograms per hectare being registered in Yongsheng County in Yunnan Province in 1999.<ref name=":2" />

In January 2014, Yuan said in an interview that [[genetically modified food]] would be the future direction of food and that he had been working on genetic modification of rice.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1403337/hybrid-rice-pioneer-yuan-longping-backs-genetically-modified-foods|title=Hybrid-rice pioneer Yuan Longping backs genetically modified foods|work=South China Morning Post|access-date=2018-05-02|language=en|archive-date=May 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502211250/http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1403337/hybrid-rice-pioneer-yuan-longping-backs-genetically-modified-foods|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Early stages of hybrid rice experiments==
===Ideology===
As recently as the 1950s, two separate theories of heredity were taught in China. One theory was from [[Gregor Mendel]] and [[Thomas Hunt Morgan]] and was based on the concept of genes and alleles. The other theory was from Soviet Union scientists [[Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin]] and [[Trofim Lysenko]] which stated that organisms would change over the course of their lives to adapt to environmental changes they experienced and their offspring would then inherit the changes. At the time, the Chinese government's official stance on scientific theories was one of "leaning towards the Soviet side", and any ideology from the Soviet Union was deemed to be the only truth while everything else would be seen as being invalid.<ref name="RaoYi2021" /> Yuan, as an agricultural student at Southwest University, remained skeptical on both theories and started his own experiments to try and come up with his own conclusions.

Yuan was taught and mentored by some biologists who followed the ideas of Gregor Mendel and Thomas Hunt Morgan. These included Guan Xianghuan at Southwest Agricultural College and, later, Bao Wenkui at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing.<ref name="Wu2021" /> Both were persecuted. Guan took his own life in the 1960s while Bao was imprisoned.<ref name="Wu2021" /> In 1962, Yuan visited Bao to discuss Mendelian genetics, and Bao gave him access to up-to-date foreign scientific literature.<ref name="RaoYi2021" /> In 1966 Yuan himself was named as a counter-revolutionary and there were plans to imprison him. However, a letter of support for Yuan and his work was received based on his publication about male-sterile rice, sent from Nie Rongzhen, director of the National Science and Technology Commission. As a result, Yuan was allowed to continue his research and provided with both research assistants and financial support by the Hunan Provincial Party Committee leader [[Hua Guofeng]] and others.<ref name="Wu2021" /><ref name="RaoYi2021">{{cite web |last1=Rao |first1=Yi |title=Rao Yi: The significance of Yuan Longping's paper 55 years ago |url=https://inf.news/en/science/4add03838c7dabee76e8f6970ca78742.html |website=iNews }}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Yuan did not join the Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution or later.<ref name="Economist-obit" />

Yuan's first experiments, before he became focused on rice, were on the [[sweet potato]] (''Ipomoea batatas'') and watermelons.<ref name="Economist-obit" /> Following Michurin's theory, he [[Grafting|grafted]] ''[[Ipomoea alba]]'' (a plant with high photosynthesis rate and high efficiency in starch production) onto sweet potatoes. These plants grew substantially larger tubers than those of plants without ''I. alba'' grafts. However, when he planted seeds from these grafted sweet potatoes for a second generation, the tubers were normal sized from seeds of the sweet potato part of the plant, while seeds from the ''I. alba'' part did not grow sweet potatoes.<ref name="Economist-obit" /> He continued with similar grafting experiments on other plants, but none of the plants produced offspring with any mixtures of the beneficial traits grafted into their parents. This was in contradiction to the expectations of Michurin's theory. Yuan concluded, "I had learned some background of Mendel and Morgan's theory, and I knew from journal papers that it was proven by experiments and real agricultural applications, such as seedless watermelon. I desired to read more and learn more, but I can only do it secretly."{{sfn|Chen|2016}}

===Famine===
In 1959 China experienced the [[Great Chinese Famine]]. Yuan as an agricultural scientist could do little to greatly help people around him in Hunan province. "There was nothing in the field because hungry people took away all the edible things they can find. They eat grass, seeds, fern roots, or even white clay at the very extreme."<ref name="Economist-obit" /> He remembered the sight of those who had starved to death all his life.<ref name="Wu2021" />
Yuan considered applying the inheritance rules onto sweet potatoes and wheat since their fast rate of growth made them the practical solutions for the famine. However, he realized that in Southern China sweet potato was never a part of the daily diet and wheat didn't grow well in that area. Therefore, he turned his mind to rice.

===Heterosis===
Back in 1906, geneticist [[George Harrison Shull]] experimented with hybrid maize. He observed that inbreeding reduced vigor and yield among the offspring but crossbreeding did the opposite. Those experiments proved the concept of [[heterosis]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Improving Corn|url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/oc/timeline/corn/|website=www.ars.usda.gov|publisher=United States Department of Agriculture|access-date=April 13, 2018|archive-date=March 25, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325153102/https://www.ars.usda.gov/oc/timeline/corn/|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1950s, geneticist J. C. Stephens and a few others hybridized two sorghum varieties found in Africa to create high-yielding offspring.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stephens|first1=J. C.|last2=Holland|first2=R. F.|title=Cytoplasmic Male-Sterility For Hybrid Sorghum Seed Production 1|journal=Agronomy Journal|date=1 January 1954|volume=46|issue=1|pages=20–23|doi=10.2134/agronj1954.00021962004600010006x|url=https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/abstracts/46/1/AJ0460010020?access=0&view=pdf|language=en|issn=0002-1962|access-date=April 13, 2018|archive-date=April 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414020904/https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/abstracts/46/1/AJ0460010020?access=0&view=pdf|url-status=dead|url-access=subscription}}</ref> 
Those results were inspiring for Yuan. However, maize and sorghum reproduce mainly through cross-pollination, while rice is a self-pollinating plant, which would make any crossbreeding attempts difficult, for obvious reasons. In [[Edmund Ware Sinnott]]'s book Principles of Genetics,<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last1=Sinnott|first1=Edmund Ware|title=Principles of genetics|date=1950|publisher=McGraw-Hill|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TsFUAAAAMAAJ|language=en}}</ref> it clearly states that self-pollinating plants, like wheat and rice, have experienced long-term selection both by nature and by humans. Therefore, traits that were inferior were all excluded, and the remaining traits were all superior. He speculated that there would be no advantage in crossbreeding rice, and that the nature of self-pollination makes it hard to do cross breed experiments on rice on a large scale.<ref name=":0" />

==Contributions==
Yuan was both professionally and personally interested in rice production. He spent a majority of his time in the field, rather than staying confined in a lab or publishing papers. As such, he played a large role in Chinese agriculture by mentoring and leading others in the field, which helped foster future achievements in Chinese agriculture.<ref name="nytimes" />

In 1979, his technique for hybrid rice was introduced into the United States, making it the first case of intellectual property rights transfer in the history of the [[People's Republic of China]].

The [[United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization]] 1991 statistics show that 20 percent of the world's rice output came from 10 percent of the world's rice fields that grow hybrid rice.

Yuan advocated for sharing the success of his breakthroughs with other nations. He and his team donated crucial rice strains to the International Rice Research Institute in 1980. These donated strains were used to create hybrid rice strains that could sustain and grow in tropical countries to help their food supply chains. In addition to donating important rice strains, Yuan and his team taught farmers in other countries to grow and cultivate hybrid rice.<ref name="nytimes" />

At present, the annual planting area of hybrid rice in China is about 230 million acres, accounting for 50% of the total rice planting area, and the output accounts for 57% of the total rice production. This increases the country's grain production by more than 20 billion kilograms every year, which is equivalent to the annual total grain production of a medium-sized province. Due to the great success of hybrid rice, he has won eight international awards, including the only National Special Invention Award and the UNESCO "Science Award", and is known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice" internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |title=袁隆平：依靠科學技術進步就能養活中國--中國共產黨新聞--中國共產黨新聞網 |url=http://cpc.people.com.cn/BIG5/34136/2569295.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=cpc.people.com.cn |archive-date=September 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925170626/http://cpc.people.com.cn/BIG5/34136/2569295.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Honors and awards==
Four asteroids and a college in China have been named after him. The minor planet [[8117 Yuanlongping]] was also named after him.<ref>{{cite web | title = 8117 Yuanlongping (1996 SD1) | url = https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=8117 | website = Jet Propulsion Laboratory}}</ref>

In 2017, he became a laureate of the [[Asian Scientist 100]] by the ''[[Asian Scientist]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.asianscientist.com/as100/ |title=The Asian Scientist 100 |author= <!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher= [[Asian Scientist]] |access-date= 13 March 2025 |quote= |language= }}</ref>

For his achievements, Yuan was awarded the 2011 [[Mahathir Science Award]]. The award was presented by Malaysian former Prime Minister [[Mahathir Mohamad]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-02-01 |title=Yuan Longping gets Mahathir Science Award |url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-02/01/content_14513723.htm |access-date= |website=www.chinadaily.com.cn}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-02-29 |title=Father of hybrid rice honoured with Mahathir science award |url=https://www.theborneopost.com/2012/02/29/father-of-hybrid-rice-honoured-with-mahathir-science-award/ |access-date= |website=Borneo Post Online |language=en-US |archive-date=September 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230905070522/https://www.theborneopost.com/2012/02/29/father-of-hybrid-rice-honoured-with-mahathir-science-award/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Yuan won the [[State Preeminent Science and Technology Award]] of China in 2000, the [[Wolf Prize in Agriculture]] and the [[World Food Prize]] in 2004.<ref name=":1" />

He was the Director-General of the China National Hybrid Rice R&D Center and appointed Professor at [[Hunan Agricultural University]], [[Changsha]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinavitae.com/biography/Yuan_Longping|title=China Vitae : Biography of Yuan Longping|last=Vitae|first=China|website=www.chinavitae.com|access-date=2018-05-02|archive-date=May 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501132115/http://www.chinavitae.com/biography/Yuan_Longping|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was a member of the [[Chinese Academy of Engineering]], foreign associate of the U.S. [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] (2006) and the [[2006 CPPCC]].<ref name=":3" />

Yuan worked as the chief consultant for the [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] in 1991.<ref name=":3" />

==Personal life==
Yuan married one of his students, Deng Ze ({{lang|zh-Hans-CN|邓则}}) in 1964.{{sfn|Yuan|Xin|2014|loc=chpt. 3 }} They had three sons, among them Yuan Ding'an ({{lang|zh-Hans-CN|袁定安}}) and Yuan Dingjiang ({{lang|zh-Hans-CN|袁定江}}).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cang |first1=Alfred |title=China Mourns Death of Man Who Saved Millions From Hunger |newspaper=Bloomberg.com |date=May 22, 2021 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-22/scientist-symbolizing-chinese-food-security-dies-at-91 |publisher=Bloomberg |access-date=9 June 2021 |archive-date=June 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609014525/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-22/scientist-symbolizing-chinese-food-security-dies-at-91 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.163.com/14/0107/22/9I16RJON0001124J.html|date=2014-01-07|publisher=[[163.com]]|language=zh|script-title=zh:袁隆平的神坛与江湖 送儿子去港专攻转基因|access-date=2017-10-24|archive-date=April 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407091142/http://news.163.com/14/0107/22/9I16RJON0001124J.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Death ==
{{Multiple image
| direction = vertical
| align = right
| header    = Activities in memory of Yuan Longping
| width = 200
| image1 = Flowers outside Xiangya Hospital after the Death of Yuan Longping.jpg
| caption1  = Flowers as well as rice given by the public outside Xiangya Hospital after the death of Yuan.
| image2 = Changsha Mingyangshan Funeral Parlour, activities in memory of Yuan Longping, 23 May 2021D.jpg
| caption2  = People came to the Changsha Mingyangshan Funeral Parlour to mourn Yuan Longping, on 23 May 2021.
}}

On March 10, 2021, Yuan Longping collapsed at his hybrid rice research base in [[Sanya]]. On April 7, he was transferred to [[Changsha]], [[Hunan Province]] for treatment.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_12798943 |script-title=zh:袁隆平保健医生：袁老系在研究基地摔了一跤，正在医院治疗 |trans-title=Yuan Longping health care doctor: Mr. Yuan fell in the research base and is being treated in the hospital |script-work=zh:湖南红网 |trans-work = Hunan Red Network |accessdate=2021-05-22 |archive-date=2021-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522070237/https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_12798943 |url-status=live }}</ref> At 13:07 on May 22, Yuan Longping died of [[Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome|multiple organ failure]] at {{Interlanguage link|Xiangya Hospital of Central South University|zh|中南大学湘雅医院}} ({{lang|zh|中南大学湘雅医院}}) at the age of 90.<ref name="Yuan death">{{Cite news |last=Ma |first=Josephine |date=22 May 2021 |title=China's 'father of hybrid rice' Yuan Longping dies at 90 |work=[[South China Morning Post]] |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3134474/chinas-father-hybrid-rice-yuan-longping-dies-90 |url-access=limited |access-date=22 May 2021 |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522151447/https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3134474/chinas-father-hybrid-rice-yuan-longping-dies-90 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Yan |first1=Zhang |last2=Sun |first2=Yilei |date=22 May 2021 |title=UPDATE 1-Yuan Longping, China's father of hybrid rice, dies at 91 - Xinhua |work=[[Reuters]] |editor-last=Feast |editor-first=Lincoln |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/china-food-idUSL2N2N903K |access-date=22 May 2021 |archive-date=May 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523035026/https://www.reuters.com/article/china-food-idUSL2N2N903K |url-status=live }}</ref> Considered a national hero,<ref name="nytimes">{{cite web|last1=Bradsher|last2=Buckley|first1=Keith|first2=Chris|title=Yuan Longping, Plant Scientist Who Helped Curb Famine, Dies at 90|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/asia/yuan-longping-dead.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 23, 2021|access-date=May 23, 2021|archive-date=May 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526013958/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/asia/yuan-longping-dead.html|url-status=live}}</ref> tens of thousands of people sent flowers to the funeral home.<ref name="nytimes"/>

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
*{{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Qi Wen |title=Yuǎn lóng píng de shì jiè |publisher=Hunan literature and Art Publishing House |year=2016 |isbn=9787540478988 |edition=1 |location=Zhangsha |script-title=zh:袁隆平的世界 |trans-title=The World of Yuan Longping}}
* {{cite book |last = Schmalzer |first =  Sigrid |translator = |year = 2016 |title = Red Revolution, Green Revolution : Scientific Farming in Socialist China |publisher = University of Chicago Press| location = Chicago; London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QFmvCwAAQBAJ |isbn = 9780226330150}} Ch. 3 "Yuan Longping: 'Intellectual Peasant'."
*{{Cite book |last1=Yuan |first1=Longping |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVp_DwAAQBAJ&q=Yuan+Longping&pg=PT15 |title=ORAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF YUAN LONGPING |last2=Xin |first2=Yeyun |date=2014 |publisher=Aurora Publishing LLC Ltd |isbn=9781908647962 |location=Nottingham |translator-last=Zhao |translator-first=Kuangli |translator-last2=Zhao |translator-first2=Baohua}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
| title=The man who puts an end to hunger: Yuan Longping, "Father of Hybrid Rice"
| publisher=Foreign Languages Press
| location=Beijing
| year=2007
| isbn=9787119051093}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Yuan Longping}}

* [http://www.china.org.cn/english/2001/Mar/8452.htm Yuan Longping -- Father of Hybrid Rice] (2001-03-05)
* [https://boyan.cloud/s/kxTBSdDmLi2Gcd7 Yuan Longping -- Remembrance by Chen Lei, Translation by Rainy Liu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615000916/https://boyan.cloud/s/kxTBSdDmLi2Gcd7 |date=June 15, 2021 }} (2021-06-01)
{{S-start}}
{{s-hon}}
{{succession box | before = [[Catherine Bertini]] | title = [[World Food Prize]] | years = 2004 | after = [[Modadugu Vijay Gupta]]}}
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{{Wolf Prize in Agriculture}}
{{Ramon Magsaysay Award Winners}}
{{Highest Science and Technology Award}}
{{Touching the Heart of China}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan, Longping}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2021 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese inventors]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Hunan Agricultural University]]
[[Category:Winners of the World Food Prize]]
[[Category:Chinese agronomists]]
[[Category:Deaths from multiple organ failure]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Members of the Standing Committee of the 6th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
[[Category:Members of the Standing Committee of the 7th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
[[Category:Members of the Standing Committee of the 8th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
[[Category:Members of the Standing Committee of the 9th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
[[Category:Members of the Standing Committee of the 10th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
[[Category:Members of the Standing Committee of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
[[Category:Members of the Standing Committee of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
[[Category:Ramon Magsaysay Award winners]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Republic (China)]]
[[Category:Scientists from Beijing]]
[[Category:Southwest University alumni]]
[[Category:UNESCO Science Prize laureates]]
[[Category:Winners of the Nikkei Asia Prize]]
[[Category:Wolf Prize in Agriculture laureates]]
[[Category:Highest Science and Technology Award winners]]