"Wood ear academician" Li Yu: "Midwife" person of "small fungus big industry"

Li Yu. (Courtesy of the interviewee)

He is an academician, but he has been working in the mountains and soil for many years, helping more than 40 formerly poor counties to establish a pillar industry of edible mushrooms. Shaanxi Zaoshui fungus, which general secretary Xi Jinping called "small fungus, big industry", is also related to him.

He is too old to be old, but he has never stopped the pace of scientific research and teaching, and he is the last to work overtime in the laboratory, and he is also the academician who still insists on lecturing for graduate students every year.

He has been dealing with fungi all his life, and his tie is mostly wood ear fungus and mushroom patterns, which has a "no crazy demon, no life" style.

He is Li Yu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a well-known mycological expert in China, a professor at Jilin Agricultural University, and the first person in China to name a new species of slime mold. Engaged in scientific research, taking students, and doing industry, this "wood ear academician" has only circled around the "small fungus" and "small mushroom" all his life, but he has done his career to the extreme.

Loved the "fungus" for a lifetime

Entering the office of Academician Li Yu, in addition to various documents and books on the desk, various mushroom-shaped objects also attracted the attention of reporters.

"There's our wood ear ice cream in the lab downstairs, please try it!" Li Yu greeted the reporter warmly and was proud when he mentioned the deep-processed products.

The fate of Li Yu and edible mushrooms such as fungus should start from when reading. His hometown is in Shandong, it is a scholarly mendi, he grew up learning piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. After graduating from Shandong Agricultural University, he was assigned to the Baicheng Institute of Agricultural Sciences of Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, stepping on the land with his feet and facing the sun, and worked for 10 years. In the past 10 years, he has fallen in love with agriculture and developed the habit of taking root in the land.

Subsequently, he was admitted to jilin agricultural university as a graduate student majoring in microbiology, studied under Professor Zhou Zongsu, a famous mycologist in China, and officially entered the world of fungi.

In the era of material scarcity and low productivity, China's mycological research started late, facing the situation of "three noes" with no professional disciplines, no professional teaching materials, and no experience. In the laboratory set up by his supervisor, he gradually carried out various kinds of mystical experiments; in the library, he nibbled on relevant foreign literature. As a pioneer in the field of mycology, the knowledge he absorbed was like a wood fire that accumulated into a lot, making the way forward brighter.

When Li Yu was about to graduate, his mentor died of illness. Before dying, the old man asked: I hope that he will continue to study the bacteria and cannot give up...

After that, he stayed in school and became a teacher. Since the end of the 1970s, he and his students have traveled all over the country to investigate the resources of fungi, systematically carry out basic research on the collection, preservation, evaluation and utilization of fungal resources, and obtain 12,000 specimens and strains. More than 400 species of slime molds alone have been reported, accounting for 43% of the world's known species; 71 new species have been published. Published two monographs on the theory of mycology, and completed the compilation and research of "Chinese Mycology - Shiitake Mushroom Volume".

As President of the International Society of Medicinal Bacteria, he led a research team to produce more than 98% of the world's slime mold molecular biology specimens. Now, for every 10 new species of slime mold in the world, one is discovered Chinese. Under the efforts of him and mycological researchers for decades, China's mycological research has been continuously in line with the world's frontiers, and its sense of existence has become stronger and stronger.

His son inherited his mantle and engaged in fungal research at Shandong Agricultural University; he named his granddaughter "Little Fungus" and liked to cook "Mushroom Feast"; wherever he went, his eyes would glow when he heard "mushroom" and "fungus"... "For so many years, there has always been a force that has pulled me, so that I dare not slack off in the slightest." Now it seems that I have not lived up to the hopes of my teacher, turned his wishes into reality, and pushed the scientific research results of fungi to the forefront of the country and even the world. The love in his heart and the instructions of his mentor turned into persistence, so that Li Yumu could see all the fungi and loved the "fungus" for a lifetime.

He is a strict teacher and a loving father

At Jilin Agricultural University, Li Yu's team has more than 60 people. "Busy", "afraid" and "bitter" are the intuitive feelings that many people follow him.

"If you can see us in the canteen, it means that Academician Li is on a business trip." As long as he was in school, we basically couldn't eat, and we could only deal with some bread and biscuits. Fu Yongping, deputy dean of the College of Plant Protection of Jilin Agricultural University, said that since joining the team, she rarely leaves work on time, and it is common to reply to messages in the middle of the night. Li Yu's "eldest disciple" and director of the Engineering Research Center for Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of the Ministry of Education of Jilin Agricultural University also "complained": "After following the teacher for 28 years, in addition to work is work, the Spring Festival can rest for a few days, and other holidays do not exist at all." Even many Spring Festivals are spent with academicians on business trips. ”

Meeting with him is even more "torturous". "Everyone has been criticized by him." Li Changtian pointed to the team members and said. Li Yu's memory is very good, someone reported more than 70 pages of slides, he did not take notes, but blurted out what was wrong with the first few pages. No flaw can escape his eyes, and once he finds that there is an error that should not occur, both veterans and recruits will be severely criticized by him, completely ruthless.

But the students who applied for his graduate school were still stubble after stubble. "Can you always go to the countryside and refuse to suffer hardships?" This is the most concerned issue for Li Yu when selecting students. Yang Yang was admitted to Li Yumen in 2015, although she is a girl, she still has to collect and cultivate strains on the mountain for 4 months a year and teach farmers cultivation techniques.

Always in a state of tension, occasionally tired to "collapse", why are Yang Yang and others still willing to follow Li Yu?

"I can learn a lot with Teacher Li, and all the hard work is to accumulate to improve my scientific research ability." Yang Yang said. In scientific research, Li Yu is strict and careful with his students. Due to the long cycle of scientific research results, the team never takes the paper as the only criterion for assessment, but adds practical application results, research days, etc., and the value of each work can be recognized.

In life, he is more like a loving father. "He used to call himself a 'miscellaneous family.'" Li Changtian said. Li Yu is very knowledgeable, and he often invites students to his home to talk to them about history, photography, sports, music, poetry and song, like a walking encyclopedia. Before each business trip, his wife would make dumplings for him, and he would invite everyone to eat together. When he encounters students with difficult family conditions, he often pays for their living expenses out of his own pocket.

"Teaching and educating people is just as important as research." Li Yu said. In the past, there was no special discipline in mycology, he led students to compile textbooks, improve teaching content, established China's first mycology major, and creatively set up a master's program and doctoral program in Jilin Agricultural University in a relatively short period of time. In 2019, he also promoted the mycological science and engineering major to be officially included in the national undergraduate professional directory of ordinary colleges and universities, becoming the first mycological undergraduate major in China. No matter how busy he is, he gives classes to graduate students every semester and communicates with undergraduates...

For more than 30 years, he has cultivated hundreds of master's and doctoral students in the field of mycology, and most of the students have become the leading talents or backbone of the mycological industry, such as Sun Xiaobo, director of the Institute of Medicinal Plants of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. After graduating from his "Mycology Whampoa Military Academy", the students rushed to tiannanhaibei, and then spread their branches and leaves and passed them on from generation to generation.

Small fungus, big industry

"Net red" live streaming with goods, orders are pouring in, e-commerce sales are hot... Nowadays, shaanxi zaoshui fungus, which is called "small fungus, big industry" by the general secretary, has caught fire and has gone to the table of people across the country.

Not only the oak water fungus, but also the Jilin Huangsongdian fungus, the Jilin Wang Qing fungus... Small fungus has formed a large industry in many parts of the country. Many of them are closely related to Li Yu.

For Li Yu, promoting the industrialization of fungi is three major events in parallel with scientific research, teaching and educating people. Huangsongdian Town, Jiaohe City, Jilin Province, is the place where he first carried out industrialization promotion. Huangsongdian Town has a tradition of planting fungus, but the long-term use of extensive cultivation techniques has not been high. In the 1990s, Li Yu saw a billboard promoting wood ear fungus on a business trip and took the initiative to come to the door.

Work with farmers to cultivate new varieties, explore all-light cultivation on the ground, promote microporous ear technology... Over the years, Huangsongdian Town has become a well-known black fungus town in China, and now all the villages in the town are engaged in the production of edible mushrooms.

Jilin Wangqing, Zhejiang Qingyuan, Shanxi Linxian, Guizhou Tongren, Hebei Fuping... Since the start of the battle against poverty, his "poverty alleviation team" has left footprints in more than 40 former deeply impoverished counties (cities) to help establish a pillar industry of fungi in the local area. He himself is more than 70 years old, and he has accumulated more than 280 days of cultivation in the front line every year. "Teacher Li is the oldest, but he is faster than us young people, and he is the fastest every time he goes up the mountain." Wang Qi, a member of the "team", said.

For the "team", since it is managed, it will always manage the industry. Wang Qi still maintains the frequency of going to Zaoshui every month for technical guidance and answering questions. Continuous scientific and technological support has brought about significant changes everywhere. Yang Yang witnessed the change with his own eyes. When I first arrived in Jinmi Village, Zaoshui County, the small shops in the village almost only had a small number of goods such as drinks and bread, and "there was no money to buy, and everyone could not afford to buy them." After the team arrived, the shop owner followed the fungus. The benefits are good, the peasants are rich, and the goods in the small shops are much richer.

It is better to teach people to fish than to teach people to fish. In supporting the development of industries in various places, the "Mycology Whampoa Military Academy" is also growing. So far, Li Yu has trained more than 8,000 technical backbones. Cui Cheng, a cadre of Huangsongdian Town, fell in love with the cultivation of edible mushrooms under his influence, and after retiring, he joined Li Yu's team and followed him across the country.

Someone once asked Li Yu: "The edible mushroom profession is unpopular, and it is not like the rice bowl of the people who directly affect the main grain, what is the use of studying these?" ”

"Aren't we engaged in agricultural scientific research to benefit the people?" Not to mention that the cultivation of fungus is easy to use, quick to achieve results, beneficial to health, and can be popularized on the people's table. This industry can not only help farmers get rid of poverty, but also make great achievements in rural revitalization! Li Yu said.

Li Yu's research found that edible mushrooms have the characteristics of "not competing with grain for land, not competing with land for fertilizer, and not fighting with farmers", and can also realize the resource of agricultural waste and promote the development of circular economy, which has broad prospects. From an output of only 57,000 tons in 1978 to nearly 40 million tons per year today, "small fungus" and "small mushroom" have driven more than 30,000 farmers to increase their income, creating direct economic benefits of nearly 30 billion yuan. Deep-processed products such as fungus crisps and fungus ice cream have also gradually entered the people's tables. Due to his outstanding performance and remarkable achievements, Li Yu won the honorary title of national model for poverty alleviation.

The old Ji Futuo, determined to be in a thousand miles. "I have been dealing with The Fungus for more than 40 years, and I will continue to 'associate' with it." In Li Yu's heart, although the edible mushroom industry has spread all over the country, the production technology in many places is backward, and the selection and breeding of high-quality varieties is slow. "I hope to combine the Internet and artificial intelligence technology to guide the development of edible mushroom characteristic industries with industrial thinking and realize the intelligent upgrading and transformation of the whole industry chain." He said.

The wood ear dream of the "wood ear academician" is still being written. (Reporters Lang Qiuhong and Meng Hanqi)

Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph