Crowds bid farewell to Yuan Longping, 'father of hybrid rice'

People bid farewell to Yuan Longping in Changsha City, central China's Hunan Province, May 24, 2021. [Photo: CFP]

Large crowds visited a memorial site set up in Changsha in central China's Hunan Province on Monday to bid farewell (送别 sòngbié) to Chinese agronomist Yuan Longping (袁隆平).

Starting from Saturday afternoon after Yuan's body was sent to the mortuary (殡仪馆 bìnyíguǎn), local residents, farmers, students and others from across the country have been visiting the site, placing flowers and banners outside the mortuary.

Media reports showed that people have expressed their grief (悲痛 bēitòng) in their own ways. For example, a flower shop owner in Changsha provided chrysanthemums for free on Sunday."Grandpa Yuan deserved our respect and I hope my children cherish food from now on," the flower shop's owner, surnamed Xia, told Southern Metropolis Daily.

Some cab drivers transferred people arriving from other places by train to the mortuary at no charge. Some who could not come had flowers delivered to the mortuary. Some provided free bottled water and masks to people coming to mourn Yuan.

Yuan Longping [File photo: VCG]

Yuan, born in 1930 and dubbed "father of hybrid rice", died from multiple organ failure at Xiangya Hospital, affiliated with Central South University, on Saturday at age 91.

In September 2019, Yuan was awarded the Medal of the Republic, among the many honors he received at home and abroad. He was also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center.

The scientist, known for producing the world's first hybrid rice in the 1970s, won global respects (尊敬 zūnjìng) for his breakthroughs (突破 túpò) in developing the genetic materials and technologies essential for breeding high-yield hybrid rice varieties.