BEIJING: What is common to dinosaurs and the minuscule rice? Why do you feel on going to the Paddy Field National Park in the sunny city of Sanya in Hainan Province, south China, that you are actually entering Jurassic Park? And why are the green rice fields there not only dotted with tractors followed by swarms of herons but also giant statutes of various kinds of dinosaurs uttering menacing growls from time to time?
Our guide at the park told us that according to stories, the giant reptiles, after ruling the earth for nearly 165 million years, died out at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 65 million years ago.
As they were becoming extinct, a new form of life sprang up—rice. The tiny grain survived the behemoth, proving size is not all.
While rice researchers say this is apocryphal, rice still has an enviably long history with archaeobotanical studies showing it was cultivated in the lower Yangtze River region in China around 10,000 years ago. Since then, the grain has undergone various adaptations for survival and today, is a means of the survival of the human race.
That was one reason for our trip to Sanya since it is one of the testing grounds of the hybrid rice developed by Yuan Longping, famed as the father of the hybrid rice in China.
Every year, Sanya gets an extraordinary flock of migratory birds. They are of the two-legged variety: rice scientists, researchers and agro-technicians who come to develop new varieties and test them in Sanya, which is ideal for cultivation even in winter due to its sunshine.
Yuan, in his 90s, is still involved in the experiments to produce rice with greater yield and pest and drought resilience. Indeed, early in November, he made news once again with a third-generation strain of hybrid rice producing a record harvest by double cropping in Hengnan County, Hunan Province, central China.
The national park we visited has a tribute to the man who has helped feed millions of people, not only in China but in other parts of the world as well.
– The Daily Mail-Beijing Review News exchange item
