File photo taken on May 10, 2007 shows Yuan Longping inspecting the trial plantation of hybrid rice.(Photo: Xinhua)

One year after the "Father of hybrid rice" Yuan Longping died of illness, Chinese people paid tribute to the man who cultivated the world's first commercially viable hybrid rice varieties, thus saving millions from hunger. They honored his memory by sharing old photos and video clips, presenting flowers and mourning cards to the places where he used to work, and founding a hybrid rice research team that will continue his work.

On Sunday, a video clip of the 91-year-old Yuan Longping singing "I wish my beloved country to become richer and stronger" in a car's backseat on his way to the hospital went viral. Many were touched by the positive attitude he showed because at that time he was suffering from a respiratory disease which made it difficult for him to breath. 

The Hunan Agricultural University named one of its teaching buildings after him in a commemoration ceremony held for Yuan Longping on Sunday. During the ceremony, Yuan's family donated some of his possessions to the school, including an English dictionary Yuan had used for more than 60 years and a piece of plaid shirt Yuan used to wear. 

Ten scientific research institutions, including the China National Rice Research Institute, the Institute of Crop Sciences in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, have jointly founded a research team on Sunday to speed up key technological breakthroughs in hybrid rice research. 

Mao Changqing, chairman of the Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Co., Ltd, and first person to propose the establishment of an alliance among the institutes of research aforementioned, said that the alliance would be the best platform to transform scientific and technological achievements into marketable ideas.

Several hashtags mourning Yuan such as "One year after the death of father of hybrid rice", "Help the world with hybrid rice", "The blowing breeze across the rice fields reminds me of you", and "Yuan's words have been made into a song" have become hot topics on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo, with a total of over 620 million views and comments as of press time.

"We'll always remember your contribution to the country. Come back to see us when the wind blows over the rice fields. We miss you so much," said one netizen. 

"We will enjoy every meal, waste no food and be good seeds for the country just as you told us to be," commented another.