The 91-year-old "grandma" Wu Mingzhu, Chinese people can eat melons freely, can't do without this grandma
, she still remembers to go back to Xinjiang to pollinate melons.
Recently, #中国人可自由吃瓜 cannot Live Without this grandmother# made a 91-year-old Wuhan man ranked first in the hot search, with 710 million views on the topic.
Statistics show that in 2018, China became the world's largest producer and consumer of watermelon. This is behind the life's hard work and original intentions of this Wuhan old man.
She is Wu Mingzhu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a melon breeding expert.
She was born in Wuhan, Hubei in 1930, and graduated from Southwest Agricultural College in 1953. She was alumni of the same class as Academician Yuan Longping.
Yesterday, a reporter from Changjiang Daily contacted her family for an interview.
Netizens all over the country met her
She can't recognize people anymore
Now, netizens all over the country know her.
However, Academician Wu, who has suffered from Alzheimer's disease for 10 years, can no longer recognize people.
On May 29th, Yang Xia, the son of Academician Wu, said in a telephone interview with a reporter from the Changjiang Daily: "I read the news a few days ago. There are so many netizens all over the country thinking about her. I am very touched, and especially for my mother. Happy. But unfortunately, even if I mention this to her now, she doesn't know what's going on."
According to Yang Xia, his mother, Wu Mingzhu, was born in Caidian, Wuhan in 1930. After spending a short childhood here, he moved to another place with his family.
In his later years, he returned to his hometown several times because of work.
His father, Yang Qihu, was a graduate student of Cai Xu, a former wheat expert at Beijing Agricultural University, and also a classmate who slept on the bunk in the dormitory during the university academician Yuan Longping.
The two parents were like-minded and very affectionate during college.
After graduating from university in 1995, his mother volunteered to join the Gobi Desert in Xinjiang. His father immediately gave up the opportunity to work in Beijing and took the initiative to work in Xinjiang to support and take care of his mother so that he could devote himself to the breeding of melons and watermelons.
In April 1986, his father died of stomach cancer.
Yang Xia sighed that in the past 62 years, her mother insisted on “doing only one thing” and cultivated more than 30 melon seeds, and devoted her life to “sweet business”. “Many melon farmers are just growing new ones that she has cultivated. Varieties, live a wealthy life".
At the age of 81, due to Alzheimer's disease, Wu Mingzhu really bid farewell to Guadi and returned to Chongqing to live with his son Yang Xia.
"In the past 10 years, my mother's condition hasn't improved much. I only recognize me and no one else. But she will always remember growing melons." Yang Xia said, her mother still talks about it often, she wants to go back to Xinjiang and return melons. Ground pollination.
In 2019, taking advantage of her mother's legs and feet, Yang Xia took her back to Shanshan County, Xinjiang, where she gave her youth and dedication.
There, no one expected that the 89-year-old Academician Wu suddenly said such a sentence, which made the people present tears: "I will continue to dedicate all my strength to the melon cause, and dedicate my life to the whole country and even the whole world. Everyone can eat better and sweeter melons."
In the consciousness of Academician Wu, the word "melon" is deeply ingrained.
Fell once in February this year
Has been hospitalized for more than 3 months
According to media reports, in the 1950s and 1960s, in order to collect melon seeds, Wu Mingzhu, as an authentic southern girl, often rushed to the deserted Gobi desert with water and naan under the wind and sand.
In three years, she and her colleagues traveled to more than 300 production teams in Turpan and finally sorted out 44 varieties and established the first resource file for Xinjiang melons.
At the same time, she also pioneered the breeding of muskmelon in Xinjiang, and systematically selected and purified nearly 30 new varieties such as Hongxinkui, Xianglihuang, and Xiaoqingpi.
In this hot land, she paid too much.
"My mother has no other hobbies in her life. For more than 60 years, she has spent all her thoughts on growing melons and raising melons, just for the fragrance of melons and fruits. No matter how bitter the conditions are, she will clenched her teeth to persevere, which is very rare. From her, I can see that a person’s achievement is not dependent on the status, income, or real contribution. As long as you do your best to contribute all the light and heat of your body to the society, then It's already remarkable." The perseverance of the mother's body has been affecting his son Yang Xia.
In 1989, Academician Wu Mingzhu wrote a reply letter to Xinjiang Daily reporter Zhang Lie.
In the letter, she wrote: "Make other people's lives better because of your survival." "The best thing in life is that when he will stop living, everything he has created will serve the people."
Talking about the current situation of Academician Wu, Yang Xia revealed that in February this year, Academician Wu accidentally fell and caused a comminuted fracture of the femoral head. He has been hospitalized.
"Recently, the blood phosphorus is low, and the meal situation is not very good. A comprehensive examination will be required on the 30th, so that the next step of treatment can be more targeted."
Netizens said that melons and fruits are so sweet because someone helped us suffer.
Son Yang Xia said that her mother never cared how much she contributed, but it was true that she only did one thing in her life, and she persevered.
And the most common sentence of Academician Wu himself is: My ideal in life is to grow a few melons and dedicate the sweetness of melons to the people.
(Changjiang Daily reporter Li Yuying)