[00:04.997]A PIONEER FOR ALL PEOPLE [00:08.369]Although he is one of China's most famous scientists, Yuan Longping considers himself a farmer, for he works the land to do his research. [00:19.013]Indeed, his sunburnt face and arms and his slim, [00:22.413]strong body are just like those of millions of Chinese farmers, [00:27.185]for whom he has struggled for the past five decades. [00:31.785]Dr Yuan Longping grows what is called super hybrid rice. [00:37.302]In 1974, he became the first agricultural pioneer in the world to grow rice that has a high output. [00:46.239]This special strain of rice makes it possible to produce one-third more of the crop in the same fields. [00:53.538]Now more than 60% of the rice produced in China each year is from this hybrid strain. [01:01.512]Born into a poor farmer's family in 1930, Dr Yuan graduated from Southwest Agricultural College in 1953. [01:12.075]Since then, finding ways to grow more rice has been his life goal. [01:19.479]As a young man, he saw the great need for increasing the rice output. [01:23.146]At that time, hunger was a disturbing problem in many parts of the countryside. [01:29.509]Dr Yuan searched for a way to increase rice harvests without expanding the area of the fields. [01:36.786]In 1950, Chinese farmers could produce only fifty million tons of rice. [01:43.247]In a recent harvest, however, nearly two hundred million tons of rice was produced. [01:49.907]These increased harvests mean that 22% of the world's people are fed from just 7% of the farmland in China. [01:59.554]Dr Yuan is now circulating his knowledge in India, Vietnam and many other less developed countries to increase their rice harvests. [02:09.844]Thanks to his research, the UN has more tools in the battle to rid the world of hunger. [02:16.107]Using his hybrid rice, farmers are producing harvests twice as large as before. [02:23.072]Dr Yuan is quite satisfied with his life. [02:26.675]However, he doesn't care about being famous. [02:30.002]He feels it gives him less freedom to do his research. [02:34.487]He would much rather keep time for his hobbles. [02:37.632]He enjoys listening to violin music, playing mah-jong, swimming and reading. [02:40.971]Spending money on himself or leading a comfortable life also means very little to him. [02:50.396]Indeed, he believes that a person with too much money has more rather than fewer troubles. [02:57.289]He therefore gives millions of yuan to equip others for their research in agriculture. [03:03.377]Just dreaming for things, however, costs nothing. [03:06.591]Long ago Dr yuan had a dream about rice plants as tall as sorghum. [03:11.642]Each ear of rice was as big as an ear of corn and each grain of rice was as huge as a peanut. [03:19.309]Dr Yuan awoke from his dream with the hope of producing a kind of rice that could feed more people. [03:25.819]Now, many years later, Dr Yuan has another dream: to export his rice so that it can be grown around the globe. [03:35.487]One dream is not always enough, especially for a person who loves and cares for his people. [03:41.548]