BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- "They said that I changed the world with a seed. I know that this seed was planted by your mother when I was a child! ”
As the "father of hybrid rice", Yuan Longping's letter to his mother before his death made many people cry.
On the evening of the 18th, the "Yuan Longping's Dream" unit of the TV series "Meritorious Service" was officially broadcast, and the episode used a letter from Yuan Longping to structure the time and space of the entire story. After the start of the broadcast, many netizens brushed the screen in the bullet screen to remember Elder Yuan, and some people lamented that the drama had achieved God restoration, which made people cry.
How was this "divine drama" created?
Stills from "Meritorious Service".
Before the time was turned back to the creation, the question in front of director Yan Jiangang and screenwriter Song Fangjin was: What kind of person is Yuan Longping, who is a household name, in private?
In order to solve this problem, the two visited the place where Yuan Longping lived and worked many times before shooting. Every in-depth understanding made them greatly shocked and moved.
The first is Yuan Longping's home.
Song Fangjin originally thought that as an academician, a meritorious figure, and a great scientist, Elder Yuan should be spacious and bright, not only how luxurious. But when he first walked into Yuan Longping's Hainan residence (the National Southern Breeding Scientific Research and Breeding Base), tears flowed out.
"I didn't expect it at all that it was a very old building from the 80s of the last century, and Elder Yuan lived there." His living room is a very narrow little place, and the bedroom is also very small, adding up to a total of more than 30 square meters, very simple and old, which shocked me and the director. ”
Data map: "The father of hybrid rice" Yuan Longping. Photo by Liu Shuangshuang, a reporter from China News Service
What shocked Song Fangjin even more was that although Elder Yuan solved the problem of Chinese's rice bowl, there were always problems with his diet.
"Elder Yuan can't eat outside restaurants. Because he had been in the rice field for many years, he had a serious gastrointestinal disease. As long as you eat outside, you will have diarrhea. Therefore, Elder Yuan is strictly regulated in eating, and can only eat things in certain places, for example, he can only eat the meals he makes at home. ”
In addition, Because Elder Yuan suffers from dermatitis, he basically can't spend the night anywhere, because he can't stand it overnight. "Every night, Elder Yuan needs to use the cork of the warm water bottle to burn himself again, otherwise he will be itchy and unable to sleep." But he will be better in Hainan and Hunan, because after all, he has stayed a long time. ”
Data chart: Academician Yuan Longping personally screened seedlings. Photo by Zhang Jingang, China News Service Image source: CNSPHOTO
In Song Fangjin's view, Yuan Lao is a magnificent and legendary figure, who was delivered by Lin Qiaozhi, the "mother of ten thousand babies", and lived a life of upheaval and displacement since childhood, experienced war, experienced hunger, and defeated it.
How to write about this person? Which part of his life was written?
In the end, Yan Jiangang and Song Fangjin chose the more than ten years of Yuan Lao's research on hybrid rice from the 60s to the mid-1970s.
"This is not the most glorious moment of Elder Yuan, but it is his moment of struggle, which has experienced countless tribulations and is the most touching." Director Yan Jiangang said.
"Yuan Longping's dreams, or his ideals in this life, come from his childhood. At that time, they were in Chongqing, and the scene of suffering brought by war and hunger to mankind was engraved in his heart. In the process of fleeing, he saw farmers risking bomb explosions and planting seedlings in paddy fields in order not to miss the time of farming. Because his mother once said to him: 'People are mistaken for a moment, and people are wrong for a year'. ”
Data chart: Yuan Longping led guests to observe in the field. Photo by Yang Huafeng, a reporter of China News Service
Yan Jiangang filmed this scene into the play. The family plays an important role in Yuan Longping's success, and Elder Yuan also mentioned this in his letter to his mother:
"I can't imagine, without your English enlightenment, in a state of isolation, how could I read the world's most advanced scientific literature in English, and use a vision beyond that era to search for the genetics masters Mendel and Morgan?" I can't imagine that in those turbulent years, from Beiping to Hankou, from Taoyuan to Chongqing, without your persistence and encouragement, how could I get a systematic modern education and gain the courage to travel freely in the great rivers? I can't imagine that without you telling me about Nietzsche, about this great philosopher with great vitality and willpower, how could I have firmly believed in a thousand failures that there must be a seed that can make thousands of people say goodbye to hunger? ”
In Song Fangjin's view, Yuan Lao's discovery of hybrid rice is not an accidental event, but an inevitable event, "he has a scientific way of thinking, and this inevitable event has a series of rigorous scientific reasoning." ”
"He is optimistic, strong, able to systematically learn knowledge in this field, and can look at the problems that arise dialectically. Elder Yuan's life is not only a great and dedicated life, but also a life that can enlighten others, and he can learn a lot of useful things for young people. ”
In 2018, Yuan Longping, who is more than 88 years old, said: "I have two dreams, one is the 'dream of cooling under the grass' and the other is the 'dream of hybrid rice covering the world'. ”
Today, Elder Yuan's dream has come true.
After filming "Yuan Longping's Dream", director Yan Jiangang had a new understanding of the word "meritorious"——
"His ultimate goal will never be personal success, it must be to benefit others, to benefit society, to benefit all mankind." Only by doing this can we be worthy of the word 'meritorious service'. (End)
Source: China News Network