Hong Kong, 6 Jun (ZXS) -- Hong Kong's "soybean expert" Lin Hanming: Agricultural scientific research is to "go up to heaven and earth."

China News Agency reporter Han Xingtong

A few days after Lin Hanming, professor of life sciences at Zhuomin of Hong Kong University of Chinese, was interviewed by China News Agency, Shenzhou 16 was successfully launched, and the Longhuang soybeans developed by Lin Hanming and his team also took off with the spacecraft. Earlier, the soybean nitrogen-fixing strain "Rhizobia", also developed by Lam Hanming, was launched aboard the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft, becoming the first agricultural science laboratory project in Hong Kong to reach "Tiangong".

"After going around in circles, they met in the 'Heavenly Palace'." Lin Hanming couldn't close his mouth happily. In his lab, next to samples of soybeans and "rhizobia", two miniature models of rockets were specially placed. He explained that the effect of taking experimental samples into space is to observe their changes in a variety of environments that Earth does not have, which may inspire and influence further research.

The soybeans studied by Lin Hanming are now "in the sky", because he chose to "go to the ground" research direction. On the background panel of his laboratory, there is an enlarged photograph of a vast and barren hill in Gansu Province, but at the foot of the mountain there are two green crop fields, he pointed to a blurry figure in the corner, lying on a field ridge resting, and said with a smile: "That's me, my feet are soft when I go." ”

Lin Hanming tells his scientific research story from here. At that time, he had just returned from studying in the United States and was looking for a research direction suitable for him, "At that time, Chinese scientists' research mainly focused on rice, wheat, corn, etc., and there was not much investment in soybeans. "China's soybeans are closely related to the country's history and culture and even the lives of the people, and more importantly, soybeans also have a nitrogen fixation effect, which can re-energize the barren land."

As a result, Lin Hanming cooperated with Zhang Guohong, a researcher at the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, to develop three salt- and drought-tolerant soybean varieties (Longhuang 1, Longhuang 2, Longhuang 3), which have been handed over to farmers in Gansu Province free of charge since 2016. He told reporters that they have now planted 83,<> mu of soybeans in Gansu.

In fact, in this process, there have always been companies that want to buy Lin Hanming's research results for product transformation, but Lin Hanming has always insisted on providing free use to farmers, and he has always agreed with the sentence - "Write the paper on the ground, and the results remain in the farmer's house." He once asked himself whether he wanted to have more money in the bank or leave something meaningful when he retired one day, and he chose the latter.

Today, improved soybean varieties are being planted in countries and regions such as Africa and Pakistan, helping local farmers improve their economic returns. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, and Lin Hanming's soybean project is being launched in countries along the Belt and Road this year, which he finds particularly meaningful, and he plans to take the students to Pakistan to see the results of planting, go to farmers' homes to eat, and feel the local customs.

On May 5, when the "rhizobia" developed by Lin Hanming's team was launched on board the Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft, Lin Hanming was at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and was excited. He watched the rocket relay flight, first the first stage rocket ignition "run", after reaching a certain speed, the fuel ran out and automatically fell off; Then the second stage rocket takes over the "baton", accelerates further, and so on. He sees himself as the first stage of rocketry, combining Hong Kong's agriculture and aerospace technology from scratch. "It's up to you." He told the students when he returned to school. (End)