A lifelong passion for breeding! The wheat fields are rolling, but he is always absent

◎ Written by: Science and Technology Daily reporter Wang Yingxia

◎ Editor: Teng Jipu

The wheat breeding experimental field located in Yongqing Group 2, Wangyuan Town, Yongning County, Yinchuan City, Ningxia, will no longer wait for its former owner.

Qiu Zhixin is gone.

At 9:00 am on December 20, Qiu Zhixin, a nationally renowned wheat breeding expert and former director of the Yongning County Wheat Breeding and Reproduction Institute, passed away at the age of 74.

In the last four years of his life, he had been lying on his sickbed, unable to get up or speak. Student Li Qianrong visited him at home two weeks ago and said that the old man was actually clear-headed and was still conscious when he was called, but he could not speak.

At that moment, Qiu Zhixin looked like a baby in his eyes.

"It's quite painful." said the second daughter Qiu Min.

This young man, who came from the West Lake to the Yellow River at the age of 18 to support the construction of Ningxia, finally closed his eyes peacefully and returned to his hometown in his dreams.

He once said: "I came to Ningxia not to eat for free, nor to simply add labor here, but to use my knowledge to make greater contributions to society and the people."

He left behind a large box of certificates and awards, including certificates for the title of "The Most Beautiful Struggler" in the country, certificates for an outstanding Communist Party member in the country, certificates for the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the Ningxia Science and Technology Merit Award, and the National May 1st Labor Medal.

These honors shine brightly along with his spirit.

1

Go to where the motherland needs you most

In October 1958, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was established, and the central government decided to transfer a group of laborers and professional and technical personnel from various provinces and cities to Ningxia to support construction. At the end of that year, the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee issued a directive to mobilize 300,000 young people to support Ningxia.

"Go to the countryside, go to the border areas, go to the places where the motherland needs you most; go to the countryside, go to the border areas, go to the places where the revolution is most difficult..." On the banks of the West Lake, the loud singing resounded through the sky.

Time went on to September 1965.

With the sound of the train whistle, more than 600 Hangzhou junior and senior high school graduates responded to the call of the Party and the country and boarded the train to support the construction of Ningxia. Qiu Zhixin was among them.

As the train headed westward, my hometown became increasingly blurred, and the green mountains and clear waters of the south of the Yangtze River were gradually replaced by the Gobi Desert of the northwest.

Qiu Zhixin was assigned to work as a farmer in Shengli Commune, Yongning County, Yinchuan City. Although he was skinny and small, he was very hardworking and would rush to do even the heavy labor such as repairing canals and protecting embankments.

In the hard work, Qiu Zhixin learned the techniques of raising rice seedlings, weeding with pesticides, and introducing wheat varieties. Eight years later, he was "discovered" to the Yongning County Seed Breeding Farm, and thus began his journey in agricultural research.

Video screenshot. Image source: Yinchuan News, shot and produced by Yinchuan News Media Group

Being able to endure hardships is the deepest impression that Qiu Min's father left on her. When Qiu Min was still in primary school, Qiu Zhixin often took her to work in the experimental field. Qiu Zhixin selected seeds and asked Qiu Min to plant the crops in the field. When he was tired, he would smoke a cigarette in the field, take a break and then continue working. At noon, he would use earth blocks to prop up a pot and cook some noodles, which was a meal.

In the summer in the northwest, the temperature is very high and there is no moisture in the air. Qiu Zhixin's office is right next to the experimental field. There is not even a fan in the room. If you take a nap in the room at noon, you will be sweating when you wake up.

Young Qiu Min was often so tired that he would fall asleep immediately after returning home from work.

"The conditions were extremely difficult, but my father worked there for decades." The ability to persevere is another impression Qiu Zhixin left on Qiu Min.

Since he was a latecomer, Qiu Zhixin was well aware of his lack of professional knowledge, so he began to teach himself more than ten courses including seed breeding, crop cultivation, plant physiology, etc.

Many times, in order to understand a problem, he would even ride his bicycle to research institutes dozens of miles away to seek advice from experts.

Everyone calls him "breeding madman".

It was this "madman" who, despite the shortage of basic materials, equipment and funds, and the difficulties of inexperience, staff shortage and heavy family burden, led the research team to introduce more than 10,000 wheat varieties from home and abroad and formulate more than 20,000 hybrid combinations.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

In 1977, Qiu Zhixin and his colleagues took the lead in breeding the semi-dwarf, medium-mature and high-yield spring wheat varieties "Yongliang No. 1" and "Yongliang No. 2". After production promotion and application, they achieved good yield-increasing effects and won the "New Wheat Variety Breeding Award" at the first Ningxia Science Conference that year.

Video screenshot. Image source: Yinchuan News, shot and produced by Yinchuan News Media Group

In 1981, they developed a new variety that has been popular for 40 years, which is "Ningchun No. 4".

Due to its outstanding yield and wide adaptability, this variety quickly gained warm welcome from farmers and was promoted over a large area.

Two years later, it completed the fourth update of wheat varieties in the Ningxia irrigation area. At the same time, it was quickly promoted in six provinces and regions including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Gansu, and was introduced into countries such as Kazakhstan, becoming one of the varieties with the largest planting area of ​​spring wheat in my country.

In the early 1990s, Ningchun 4 reached its peak, increasing Ningxia's spring wheat yield from about 225 kilograms per mu to about 400 kilograms, with the highest yield reaching 666 kilograms per mu.

So far, the cumulative promotion area of ​​this variety has reached 140 million mu, and the wheat yield has increased by 7 billion kilograms. The successful breeding of "Ningchun 4" has been praised by domestic and foreign experts as a model of "shuttle breeding", and has won the third prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award and the first prize of Ningxia Science and Technology Progress Award.

"The teacher himself believes that 'Ningchun No. 4' is the most proud work of his life," said Li Qianrong.

He revealed that Qiu Zhixin also has a dream, which is to cultivate a variety that surpasses "Ningchun No. 4" during his lifetime.

But he could never wait for his dream to come true.

2

Agricultural researchers spend ten years researching a new product

"Even after becoming famous, he remains as pragmatic and humble as ever, which is particularly rare," Wei Yiqun, a researcher at the Ningxia Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences and chief expert in wheat breeding in Ningxia, repeatedly emphasized.

As early as when he was in college, he had heard of Qiu Zhixin and the name of "Ningchun No. 4". After graduation in 1983, he was assigned to the Crop Research Institute of the Ningxia Academy of Agricultural Sciences, also in Yongning, and the two had more contact.

When Wei Yiqin met Qiu Zhixin for the first time, he was a little surprised.

He didn't expect that Qiu Zhixin, who was already well-known in the industry, was so plain-looking and so down-to-earth and hardworking.

Ningxia, known as the "South of the Yangtze River on the Great Wall", has very suitable climatic conditions for the growth of spring wheat. As one of the local specialty crops, scientific researchers are actively improving wheat varieties and cultivation techniques to promote the rapid development of the industry.

In the summer of 1985, Ningxia held a wheat breeding cooperation activity. Wei Yiqun participated in a project undertaken by the institute and thus got to know Qiu Zhixin.

It was also that year that a major outbreak of wheat rust occurred.

At that time, "Ningchun No. 4" had been widely promoted in the northern region. The industry expressed doubts about the disease resistance of this variety and was even more concerned about whether it could guarantee production.

When everyone was discussing together, Qiu Zhixin explained that according to his experience, "Ningchun No. 4" has good disease resistance, especially during the filling period.

This is like a person who, although he is sick, will eventually survive because of his own resistance.

The young Wei Yiqin believed that he was a professional and thought that might not be the case. "But later it was indeed confirmed that 'Ningchun No. 4' has excellent disease resistance, which made me sincerely admire Teacher Qiu."

"He worked as a farmer for eight years before he got involved in scientific research and breeding. It was based on his rich experience in production that he had such a thorough understanding of the performance of the varieties, which was conducive to conducting research and making judgments. We often say that scientific research must be combined with production, and this is the reason." Wei Yiqun said.

Video screenshot. Image source: Yinchuan News, shot and produced by Yinchuan News Media Group

Wheat breeding experiments are mainly conducted in the field. After the breeding goals are determined, germplasm resources are first selected as parents, followed by hybridization and combination. The grains produced after the combination are the F1 generation.

Every year, researchers conduct thousands of such combination tests, constantly selecting, matching, and planting. Only when the F6 or F8 generation is reached can its yield, disease resistance, and other qualities basically meet the requirements.

Due to climate reasons, breeding experiments would take at least 8 to 10 years if they were only conducted in Ningxia. To solve this problem, since the mid-1980s, researchers in Ningxia have chosen to carry out breeding work in Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province.

This is what people often call "Southern breeding".

In early to mid-September, they will take the selected materials to Yunnan for planting, and then collect them in early January of the following year and plant them in Ningxia. In this way, the time can be shortened by half.

After the above work is completed, researchers will select two to three varieties for variety comparison tests. After one or two years, they will select the best ones for the Ningxia regional test, which will take about three years. If the regional test is passed, a new wheat variety will be officially developed and can enter the production stage.

This is how the saying "it takes ten years to produce one" that breeders often say came about.

What made Wei Yiqin admire him even more was that Qiu Zhixin did not stop just because of his achievements.

Since he became the director of Yongning County Wheat Breeding and Propagation Institute in 1991, he has always taken the opportunity to exchange business with colleagues from all over the country during the annual "Southern Propagation". There are many sparrows in Yuanmou, especially when wheat is just filling up. He squatted in the field, looking at materials and shooing sparrows, not even taking time to eat.

Following Ningchun No. 4, Qiu Zhixin led the technical staff to develop 12 new high-quality and high-yield wheat varieties, including Ningchun No. 5, Ningchun No. 53, and Yongliang No. 15. They were approved by Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and other provinces and regions. Among them, Ningchun No. 39 passed the national approval in 2006.

Statistics show that these varieties have been promoted over 20 million mu in and outside Ningxia, playing a huge role in wheat production in the spring wheat areas of Northwest and North China.

3

He is a perfectionist at work.

Having been engaged in breeding for many years, Qiu Zhixin has extremely high demands on himself and the people around him.

In Qiu Min's eyes, Qiu Zhixin is strict both as a father and as a senior. She has been "afraid" of him since she was a child.

The person who has the most say is Li Qianrong.

In 2003, he graduated from the Agricultural College of Ningxia University and came to the Yongning County Wheat Breeding and Production Institute, where he immediately followed Qiu Zhixin to work in breeding.

"I hadn't gotten started at that time, not even an elementary school student. The teacher asked me to take time to read professional knowledge, because he was self-taught and he thought we could do it too," said Li Qianrong.

If there is a mistake, Qiu Zhixin will criticize it without hesitation. He always strives for perfection in his work.

Video screenshot. Image source: Yinchuan News, shot and produced by Yinchuan News Media Group

One year when breeding in Yunnan, the newly harvested wheat was still wet, and Li Qianrong put it in an envelope to dry. He was afraid that the order of the wheat seeds would be disrupted, so he used bricks to press them down at first. Later, when he saw that there were too many, he got lazy, and the ground was not flat, so a gust of wind blew and messed up the order.

Qiu Zhixin was very angry and said that Li Qianrong was not working diligently and gave him a severe scolding.

Looking back, Li Qianrong is full of understanding: "In the past, our company also recruited several college students, but they all left because of the remote location and hard work. I know that the teacher is anxious, and he wants me to grow up quickly."

In August 2007, Qiu Zhixin retired. He was rehired by the company because he was concerned about wheat breeding and continued to work as usual.

Around 2010, Li Qianrong was finally able to take charge of his own affairs. However, whenever Qiu Zhixin came to the company, he would still personally inquire about his affairs.

Seeing Qiu Zhixin so worried, Wei Yiqin joked with him: "Teacher Qiu, why don't you let go? Take care of yourself."

During those years, Wei Yiqin and Qiu Zhixin had close business dealings, and he saw how Yongning Wheat Breeding and Propagation Institute achieved success. Qiu Zhixin's team also grew stronger, and after Li Qianrong was recruited, the team had 16 people at most.

"In fact, Teacher Qiu always leads young scientific researchers to do this, which is true teaching by example," said Wei Yiqun.

Qiu Min didn't know since when, but the father who she once thought was strict became much gentler, even a little nagging.

In 1992, Qiu Min took the college entrance examination. When filling out the application form, Qiu Zhixin wanted her daughter to become a dentist, perhaps because she felt that studying agriculture was too hard. Unexpectedly, she was eventually admitted to the agronomy major. After graduation, Qiu Min came to work at the Crop Research Institute of the Ningxia Academy of Agricultural Sciences. It seemed destined that she was also engaged in wheat breeding.

As they are in the same business, Qiu Zhixin would talk about business with his daughter whenever he had time. Qiu Min said frankly: "I couldn't understand some of the things he said, but he kept talking about it. To be honest, it was quite annoying."

But deep down, Qiu Min admired her father more. This feeling became stronger when she became a member of the autonomous region's wheat breeding research and development team.

She admired him for rushing into the heavy rain at night to harvest wheat seeds at the age of 61, completely ignoring the fact that he was soaked all over; she admired him even more for being able to persist in breeding in the north and south for 2 to 3 generations a year for 35 consecutive years, and summarizing a set of breeding methods with small scale, low cost and high efficiency, which continuously pushed the breeding work forward.

Father is a beacon.

Qiu Zhixin is very busy at work, but he is a family man. In Qiu Min's heart, he is a competent father who buries his love deeply.

Initially, the family lived in Yongning Breeding and Production Institute. After Qiu Min entered junior high school, the family moved to the county town. Qiu Zhixin went home every day, a distance of six or seven kilometers. He and his three daughters had a simple meal of noodles at noon, and sat at a table to chat in the evening.

Li Qianrong and the young people in his team also felt this silent care.

In a unit far from the county town, Qiu Zhixin feared that they would be lonely, so he bought them a TV, a table tennis table, and a complete kitchen stove. Sometimes, he would invite them to his home for dinner on weekends.

To them, Qiu Zhixin is a leader, a teacher, and an elder who is not good at expressing himself.

4

Forever lying in the arms of my second homeland

History has closely linked Hangzhou and Yongning together.

In 1965, 1966 and 1968, three batches of 1,011 educated youth from Hangzhou came to Ningxia, of which 944 went to Yongning County to work in the countryside. They worked hard in all walks of life and wrote the most beautiful song of youth with their precious years.

Since 1980, these educated youth have returned to Hangzhou one after another, but they came alone and returned with their families.

Qiu Zhixin's family also had a quota to return to Hangzhou, but he felt that his career was here, so he resolutely chose to stay. His youngest daughter once stayed in Hangzhou for a year, but also returned home because she couldn't let go of Ningxia.

A foreign land becomes my hometown, and I won’t go far away for the rest of my life. Wherever my heart is at peace is my hometown.

Wei Yiqin remembers Qiu Zhixin once said to him very frankly: "The country has given me so many honors for this job, and I always feel a sense of pressure. What do you think it would mean if I left now? I still want to make more and better achievements for Ningxia."

In scientific research and breeding, there is no best, only better. You must put in 200% effort to breed satisfactory varieties.

Of course, biology is full of inevitability and contingency, but if you are not willing to bend down and do it at the beginning, how can you expect any "lucky" harvest later?

"This is the spirit of a scientist. Always down-to-earth, always pursuing innovation, without any utilitarianism or worldliness. This kind of spirit is also what many young scientific researchers today lack." Wei Yiqun became excited.

No matter how good Ningchun No. 4 is, researchers are still working hard to breed better varieties.

Qiu Zhixin has always believed that breeding requires a long-term stable team and financial support. Scientific research is like this small seed, which needs fertile soil for it to take root and sprout.

In 2013, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Government and the Ningxia Science and Technology Department launched a special project on breeding for the region's agricultural specialty and advantage industries with a top-level design thinking of being the first to try and being far-sighted. As an important staple food crop to ensure regional food security, wheat was the first batch of the special project to be implemented.

Wei Yiqun, the chief expert of the project, and his team members carried out relevant basic theories such as wheat genetic breeding and the selection and breeding of high-quality, high-yield, multi-resistant and widely adaptable new varieties during the 13th Five-Year Plan period.

They integrated and constructed a technical system for the precise identification and evaluation of Ningxia wheat germplasm, identified and discovered a number of excellent germplasm, and enriched and broadened the genetic basis of Ningxia wheat breeding.

They combined new germplasm and new technologies with conventional breeding, and adopted the "three-place, three-generation" shuttle breeding in Ningxia, Yunnan and Hainan to cultivate 11 new varieties.

Among them, "Ningchun No. 55" and "Ningchun No. 61" have broken the contradiction between early maturity and high yield and high quality, and their maturity period is 5-7 days earlier than "Ningchun No. 4"; "Ningchun No. 58" has a maximum yield of 710.49 kg per mu, breaking the record for high yield of spring wheat in Ningxia; "Ningchun No. 56" has outstanding heat and drought resistance and high yield potential. Under the condition of reducing irrigation by 30%, its yield increased by 13.59% compared with "Ningchun No. 4", and its water utilization efficiency increased by 13.72%.

To surpass yourself is to succeed.

Qiu Zhixin, the main breeder of the benchmark variety, is suffering from deteriorating health.

He fell ill at the age of 65. As his disease progressed rapidly, he could no longer take care of himself by 2017. He subsequently lost his ability to speak and spent most of his time lying in bed with his eyes closed.

In 2019, during the grand celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Qiu Zhixin was awarded the title of "The Most Beautiful Struggler" by the Central Propaganda Department, the Central Organization Department and other ministries and commissions. When Qiu Min and her mother brought the medal to him, he rarely opened his eyes.

In recent years, a large number of educated youth from Hangzhou have returned to their second hometown to visit their relatives and would come to see Qiu Zhixin. One uncle came every year and said to Qiu Min: "Your father is the person I admire most."

After Qiu Zhixin passed away, his family buried him in a garden cemetery near Yinchuan. In the summer, the grass there is green and the flowers are fragrant. It is not as good as Jiangnan, but better than Jiangnan. Both of his hometowns can be seen.

"I believe that a seed can benefit thousands of people." This is the most heroic sentence Qiu Zhixin has ever said, and it will also become the best motto for his successor.

I imagine the wind blowing, the wheat waves rolling, and the eyes getting wet.

Journalist's Notes

He used his life to interpret two spirits

Wang Yingxia

In Ningxia, the death of an elderly person rarely attracts such attention. Qiu Zhixin did it. In him, two spirits are vividly embodied.

He embodies the spirit of selfless dedication and ownership.

In the early days of liberation, Ningxia was very backward, with poor natural conditions, scarce material conditions, and many areas that were still blank and in urgent need of construction. Qiu Zhixin, who was only 18 years old, actively responded to the call of the country and resolutely came from the Jiangnan water town to the northwest inland to inject fresh blood into the development of the new Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Sharing the country's worries and working hard are the spiritual labels of this generation. Like Qiu Zhixin, thousands of "Zhi Ning people" faced difficulties, worked in production teams, dug coal in mines, and later worked in various industries, sowing the best youth in this hot land. Some even dedicated their youth and their children and grandchildren, and rest in peace in their second hometown.

He interpreted the pioneering and innovative spirit of scientists.

Despite insufficient funds, lack of equipment and shortage of manpower, Qiu Zhixin overcame many unimaginable difficulties and carried out the task of breeding in the north and south for more than 30 years. He developed spring wheat varieties with outstanding yield, wide adaptability and excellent quality, and established a breeding mechanism that conforms to local realities, making important contributions to national food security.

Building a strong country through science and technology is an eternal theme. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the brilliant achievements made in many fields in my country are inseparable from the noble sentiments and excellent qualities of generations of scientific and technological workers who have the motherland in mind, are indifferent to fame and fortune, devote themselves to research, and bravely climb to the top. Qiu Zhixin's fruitful achievements are inseparable from the support of this spirit.

The person is gone, but his spirit lives on.

Although there is no large-scale "immigration action" in China today, a new model of East-West cooperation has gradually been formed to accelerate the development of backward areas, with government assistance, corporate cooperation, social assistance, and talent support. Compared with the past, this is a major layout and measure for my country to expand new space for domestic and foreign opening up based on the overall regional development strategy.

Dreams have warmth, and achievements have depth.

Faced with various "bottleneck" technical shortcomings, the vast number of scientific and technological workers can only provide a continuous source of power for the high-quality development of the economy and society by further promoting the spirit of scientists, strengthening the construction of work style and academic style, and unswervingly seeking breakthroughs through innovation. With the new responsibility, we must be self-reliant.

More Qiu Zhixin is keeping his original aspiration for the country and the people and writing his papers on the land. For them, the place where they care and build their dreams is their hometown.

All pictures in this article, except those noted, are from the Publicity Department of Yongning County Committee of Yinchuan City, Ningxia

Produced by Science and Technology Daily and Deep Eyes Studio

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