SANYA /China/, May 23. /TASS/. A monument to the famous Chinese academic and breeder Yuan Longping has been erected in the city of Sanya on the southern coast of Hainan Island. This was reported by the Hainan Daily newspaper.
According to the newspaper, the unveiling ceremony was held on Sunday at the National Irrigated Rice Park to mark the anniversary of the scientist's death. The monument is in the form of a 5.22-meter-high bronze statue.
The sculptor portrayed Yuan Longping as a scientist, who was not afraid of hard physical labor, was remembered by many colleagues, according to the Sanya Daily newspaper. He was dressed as an ordinary countryman, with modest pants and a short-sleeved shirt, and heavy boots on his feet. He holds a straw hat in his right hand and rice ears in his left, as he has spent many years of his life studying this crop.
Officials present at the ceremony said Yuan Longping has worked in Hainan for over 50 years, going to Hainan almost every winter since 1968 to do research on the breeding bases. Over the years, Hainan has become a small motherland for the scientist, so the academician was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Sanya City.
Yuan Longping is known in China as the "father of hybrid rice," the world's first variety which he developed in the 1970s. During his research, the scientist set several world records for the crop's yield. He died on May 22, 2021, at the age of 91.