8 | Friday, May 28, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | DAILY PATH TO GLORY US teacher witness to birth of nation By SHI BAOYIN in tle English. I would then begin to and LI YANG tell my students some stories.” Life wasn’t easy when her hus- When Shirley Wood, 96, moved band took a job in the suburbs of to her Chinese husband’s homeland . They had to walk for an from the United States to become a hour along a dirt road to reach the housewife 75 years ago, it was the city gate. beginning of a grand adventure. Before moving to Kaifeng, the While quiet domesticity isn’t usu- family spent several years in Shang- ally the acme of excitement, it was hai and in Shaanxi’s provincial capi- the relatively alien character of the tal Xi’an. culture in which she immersed her- Their suburban home lacked self that made the move magical. running water, so they had to fill the Then, as now, the sight of an home’s water tank bucket by buck- American woman living in a two- et. They also had to mix loose coal story home in the ancient city of with clay to heat the stove. Kaifeng, province, was unu- “The biggest differences for a sual. housewife are always related to the “Living as a housewife in China kitchen,” Wood said. has allowed me to better under- She had to sew most of her fami- stand the country,” Wood said in the ly’s clothes because there were few local dialect. manufactured garments available “Kaifeng is my home. Life is com- for sale. fortable here.” “At the time, living standards She said the city has retained its were simpler. People could make do traditional appeal amid moderniza- with fewer conveniences,” Wood tion. Part of this, Wood said, is the said. sense of community. She spends She talked about her youth, as Cheng Xiangwen, a corn seed engineer of Henan province’s Academy of Agricultural Sciences, discusses the growth of corn much of her time chatting with eld- her great-grandson sat on her lap. with fellow agricultural workers in a field in Hainan province. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY erly neighbors. Wood persuaded her mother to “Here, if you live on a street for a come and live with her in China, while, you are already a ‘laodajie and five of her six children have (older sister)’,” she said, smiling. emigrated to the US. She visits “That’s what I like about China. them for a few months every couple Lifetime in kernels cultivates You never feel lonely because peo- of years. ple are friendly.” The Arkansan native moved to But Wood has done more with China a year after she married her her time than just look after her veterinarian husband, Huang national dividends from corn family and make friends with Yuanbo, at the age of 20. neighbors. She was surprised by what she Wood, a retired Henan Universi- saw upon arrival. It differed from Researcher hopes corn was growing, a woman seeds, so Cheng has celebrated ty professor of English language what she had imagined, since, as a approached him with tears in her the Lunar New Year 55 times on and literature more commonly girl, she’d read Young Fu of the more youngsters eyes and said: “You’re a college the island. known by her Chinese name Wu Upper Yangtze, a novel about a will help ensure I really appreciate student. Can’t you find a way for As a result of his work, the Xueli, has devoted herself to educa- young boy in what is today’s Chong- the country’s us to harvest more corn? If we had Xunxian Agricultural Sciences tion, translation and communica- qing municipality. food security enough steamed cornbread, the Institute has developed from a tion between China and the West. “I’d expected people in colorful support for the seed children wouldn’t go hungry.” one-room, one-person depart- She has written about China for clothes, and they were actually all By SHI BAOYIN in Zhengzhou industry. The honor Born and raised in the country- ment into an academy of agricul- Western newspapers and publish- dressed in blue and black,” Wood and LI YANG side, Cheng said he would never tural sciences with nearly 100 ers for decades. said, laughing. is not mine, it forget that scene, and it set his researchers, and assets of more Her publisher called her first She also remembered the excite- When Cheng Xiangwen, an belongs to everyone mind to the pursuit of high-yield than 10 million yuan. novel, A Street in China, which was ment of being among the few for- 85-year-old corn seed engineer and corn seed. “I will do what the Par- Cheng said the outbreak of the released in 1958, a “picture of every- eigners to witness New China’s researcher at the Hebi Academy of in the field.” ty and the people need me to do,” novel coronavirus, which upset day life in Communist China by an founding in 1949. Agricultural Sciences in Henan Cheng Xiangwen, corn seed he told himself. global supply chains, should American who lives the life of a Chi- “Tailors and anybody with a sew- province, got the message that he’d engineer at the Hebi Academy He was convinced that a single have drawn the world’s attention nese housewife and mother”. ing machine were making red flags, won the honorary title of “the most of Agricultural Sciences seed could change the world and to the importance of food securi- In 1988, she was invited to trans- often working through the night,” beautiful scientific and technologi- benefit all people. Over the next ty. He referred to high-quality late the premier’s and vice-pre- she says. “I was worried I might not cal worker in the country” last year, five decades, he bred 39 varieties seeds as the “microchips” of agri- mier’s reports at the Seventh get one, because everyone wanted he was at work in an experimental Cheng has developed a special of corn seed. The first batch he culture and hopes more young Session Meeting of the National them.” field in Hainan province. relationship with corn. His developed helped Xunxian raise people will make careers in agri- People’s Congress. Eventually, she got a flag from a “I was excited for several days. I dream is to engineer the best its corn output per hectare from cultural science and technology “It was much less interesting than local women’s association on the eve really appreciate the country’s seeds possible for farmers. 750 kilograms to between 3.75 to research. translating literature,” Wood said. of the birth of the People’s Republic support for the seed industry. The After graduating from an agri- 4.5 metric tons. That figure rose He retired in 2016 at the age of “There was a lot of political lan- of China, and she has hung it out- honor is not mine, it belongs to cultural technical school in 1963, further to about 7.5 tons in the 80 but still maintains a few guage. The words sounded nice in side every National Day since. everyone in the field,” Cheng told he was assigned to work as a pro- first years of this century. research projects, including a Chinese but become a little awk- “It should have its day in the sun,” the media. moter of agricultural science and Today, Cheng’s seeds have been 0.6-hectare corn field in Hainan. ward when translated into English.” she says. “It’s more than 70 years old He has been involved in technology in Xunxian county in planted in more than 20 million “I have researched corn my It was trickier to find precise now.” research into high-yield corn for Henan. At the time, yields were low. hectares of farmland nationwide entire life. It has become a part of translations for terms that In 1975, Wood became a citizen of 57 years. “I will spare no effort in It was even too much to hope that and generate revenues of more me. When I can’t see corn, I feel appeared after reform and opening- the country whose founding she fulfilling my duties as a research- villagers would have enough to eat. than 27 billion yuan ($4.2 billion). uneasy,” he said. up, but some of Wood’s choices have witnessed, thanks to a written er. I’m dedicated to devoting my Cheng remembers that when The subtropical weather in become international standards. order from former premier Zhou life to the country’s corn seed he went to Xingzhuang village in Hainan province is more favora- Contact the writers at Her greatest passion remains Enlai. engineering work,” he said. Juqiao town to find out how the ble to the development of corn [email protected] education. She spent more than “I was very happy to become Chi- half a century as a teacher and was nese,” she says. “After living here for witness to the transformation of so long, I no longer feel like an out- education in the country. sider.” Working with the people to create lasting change The closeness of the student- Henan University held a seminar teacher relationship impresses her on Wood’s approach to didactics the most. and educational philosophy in cele- By SHI BAOYIN in Zhengzhou listening to them and working “Here, teachers are the students’ bration of her 95th birthday. and LI YANG and eating with them”. parents away from home, and the Guan Hefeng, an English teacher One of Zhao’s main focuses is students are very considerate of at the university, spoke on behalf of In April 1998, 58-year-old Zhao inspiring Party members to take their teachers,” she said. the elderly teacher at the seminar, Hualu arrived in Jitun in Huixian the lead and setting examples for Wood remembered that educa- saying that Wood appreciated “the county, Henan province to serve as the people to follow. tional conditions were dire when approval the country and the uni- the township’s Party secretary. He Jitun encompasses 33 villages, she first arrived. Many of her stu- versity had given her, and the care, has been working there ever since. 216 civil servants, 1,824 Party dents were from the countryside, support and help different genera- At the time, the annual per cap- members and 1,066 village repre- and had never studied foreign lan- tions of presidents of the university ita income in Jitun was slightly sentatives. Zhao regards them as guages. and the directors of the foreign lan- above 1,000 yuan — less than the “Three Forces” that he can As a teacher of oral English, she guage school had given her as well.” $200 — and most of the farmers always rely on. used various methods to make her In the course of her lengthy were living hand-to-mouth. “The development of Jitun, classes more fun, including games, career, Wood taught more than To raise incomes, Zhao encour- which is home to about 60,000 storytelling and outdoor activities. 3,000 undergraduates and over 300 aged the farmers to grow mush- people, was achieved by the hard She also recalled spending part of graduate students. rooms in greenhouses. Scared of work of everyone under the lead- the semesters during the Great losing money, nobody wanted to ership of the ‘Three Forces’,” he Leap Forward (1960-62) digging Liu Xiangrui and Yang Xiaonan try something new at first. Zhao Hualu visits a family in need in Jitun town of Huixian, said, adding that the secret lies in ditches and cutting wheat in rural contributed to this story. He encouraged local Party Henan province. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY team building. areas. members to take the lead. Four- The “Three Forces” are not only “The rests and mealtimes provid- Contact the writers at teen members from Fantun vil- responsive to the people, but also ed good opportunities to speak a lit- [email protected] lage built 15 greenhouses to grow now produces 300 metric tons of may well lead a tiresome life. come from among them and mushrooms, each of which gener- needle mushrooms a day and pro- However, if they treat it as a plat- share their concerns. ated more than 30,000 yuan the vides jobs for 60 percent of the form to achieve, they will not only Miao Haiyun, Party secretary of first year. town’s working age population. work harder, they will enjoy life Xianlu village, still has fresh With that, Zhao had proved his Jitun has become the largest more. memories of how Zhao put him- point. Today, there are more than producer of the edible fungi in the At least that’s Zhao’s takeaway self on the front line, leading Party 10,000 greenhouses growing country, and per capita incomes from his years of dedication. He members and the people during mushrooms in Jitun — one on have increased to more than had the words written on a poster, serious flooding on July 19, 2016. average for each household. 20,000 yuan. which hangs on his office wall to “As long as we see that Zhao is Realizing that better technology Zhao said the moment he chose remind him that he should con- there, our hearts can rest assured, and equipment were key to the to work in the countryside was tinue to work for as long as the because he not only knows what to industry’s development, Zhao the moment he chose to make people need. do, but also how to do it,” Miao said. visited Guangdong and Gansu personal sacrifices for local devel- Song Yuntian, a PhD graduate When asked how he could provinces in search of ways to opment — as the four intravascu- from Tsinghua University, used to work in an impoverished rural upgrade and succeeded in attract- lar stents near his heart attest. He work in Jitun as Party secretary area for so many years, Zhao ing Guangdong Star Way Bio- has steadfastly refused to be for Yaocun village. He says he was replied that as long as you work Technology Company to Jitun. transferred elsewhere, and has very inspired by Zhao, who per- hard, time passes quickly. With an investment of 1.1 bil- been promoted three times. suaded him to make himself one lion yuan ($172 million), Star Way If a person treats their official of the people by “getting close to Contact the writers at Shirley Wood celebrates students’ graduation at Henan University’s Biotech Park was built in 2012. It title as a symbol of power, they them, speaking their language, [email protected] Minglun campus in Kaifeng, Henan province. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY