Research On The Development Of Chinese Modern Crop Science

Crop production has a long history in China.Agricultural books are rich and colorful,which propose innovative farming system theories and technical systems.Intensive farming had become the tradition of Chinese planting in the past.However,due to the limitation of historical conditions,a complete disciplinary system had not been formed in China for a long time.After the Opium War of 1840,the Chinese people began to introduce modern agronomy.After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895,China really learned and imported western agricultural technology on a large scale.Many people of insight recognized that a large traditional agricultural country like China,should not ignore the importance of agriculture especially.They should take agriculture as the foundation,take agriculture as the system,then engage in business and industry,and begin to take a more comprehensive view of modern Western civilization and science and technology.With the introduction and dissemination of modern agronomy from the west,in the late19 th and early 20 th centuries,Chinese Crop Science began to take shape as a systematic science.Modern Crop Science in China was related to the development of modern agronomy closely.Modern Crop Science in China had experienced three stages of development from the beginning of the late 19 th century to the beginning of the 20 th century,the initial formation of the system from 1912 to 1937,and the tortuous development from 1938 to 1949.Certain achievements had been made in Talent Training,Institutions and Groups,Research and Promotion,Communication and Exchange.Under the influence of the introduction of Western learning to the East,the Qing Government began to imitate the Japanese education system,and successively distributed the Ren-Yin Educational System and the Kui-Mao Educational System.The Kui-Mao Educational System was the first systemic school system officially implemented nationwide in modern China,and it was in use until 1911.After the establishment of the Republic of China,under the influence of the new educational thought,the Renzi-Kuichou Educational System was promulgated.In 1922,the Beiyang Government promulgated the Ren-Xu Educational System,which was the deepest reform in the history of modern education in China,and the construction of the school system in modern China was basically completed.The promulgation of the educational system had promoted the development of education.Colleges and universities set up agricultural departments and courses related to Crop Science.The Agricultural College of Imperial University,the Agricultural College of the University of Nanking,and the Agricultural College of National Central University were the three main universities that cultivated undergraduates and graduate students of Crop Science in modern China.As a special group at a specific historical stage,foreign students in Crop Science had played a pivotal role in the development of modern Crop Science in China.They were the backbone of teachers in higher agricultural colleges and universities,the main force of scientific research,and they had always stood at the forefront of Crop Science.Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China,a higher agricultural education system of different levels had been formed for undergraduates,postgraduates,and foreign students.During this period,many famous crop scientists emerged.Among them,Ding Ying,Jin Shanbao,Feng Zefang and others had outstanding achievements.They were the main founders and pioneers of Chinese Crop Science and created academic pedigrees of research on rice,wheat,cotton,soybean and corn.With the dissemination of modern agricultural science in China,influenced by European and American countries,they learned western experimental agronomy,tried to develop Crop Science with new methods and ideas,and gradually transformed the dissemination of theoretical knowledge into places for crop science activities.From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China,agricultural experimental farms,agricultural colleges and agricultural societies were gradually established.Among these agricultural scientific research institutions,the Central Research Institute of Agricultural had made the most outstanding contribution due to its special national status.The establishment of the Central Research Institute of Agricultural in 1932 marked the emergence of a national agricultural scientific research institution in modern China.It changed the scattered and chaotic situation of Crop Science research in China,and undertook the task of organizing and planning the development of Crop Science across the country.In the late Qing Dynasty,a group of talented people with lofty ideals realized the importance of establishing modern agricultural education.Modern Chinese agricultural schools gradually emerged everywhere,and higher agricultural education began to be established.The Imperial University,founded in 1898,was the first university opened by the state in China,and it was the first to set up agricultural sciences.After the Revolution of1911,agricultural education developed further.The Agricultural Science of the University of Nanking in 1914 was the beginning of the four-year agricultural university.In the movement of “specialized schools upgraded to university”,specialized colleges and universities were restructured into universities,and the level of running the school was raised from the junior college level to the undergraduate level.A number of university agricultural colleges and agricultural universities were established one after another to provide fertile ground for the development of modern Crop Science.In 1921,the discipline of agricultural Science of Nanjing Higher Normal School was reorganized to establish the discipline of agricultural Science of the National Southeast University.These three major agricultural universities were important bases for the training of advanced talents and scientific research in modern Crop Sciences in China.At the end of the 19 th century,agricultural associations began to be established following the example of foreign countries to revitalize agriculture.Numerous crop academic groups emerged,among which Shanghai Agricultural Society,the Chinese Society of Agronomy,the Science Society of China,and the Yan’an Chinese Society of Agronomy had far-reaching influence.In 1896,it was the first to establish agricultural association in Shanghai,initiated the establishment of agricultural societies in modern China.In 1917,the Chinese Society of Agronomy,the first national agricultural academic organization,was established and played its role as the “home of agronomists”.They held annual meetings,issued scientific publications,promoted and prospered the development of Crop Science,and became an important position for academic exchange and dissemination of modern Crop Science in China.With the establishment of institutions and academic groups of crop science research,and the development of crop science research,publications of crop science came into being.In 1897,China’s first agricultural science and technology journal “Agronomy Newspaper”in Shanghai was founded,“Agronomy Series” was published,for the first time comprehensively and systematically introducing and disseminating modern western agricultural scientific knowledge including crop production.In 1905,the “Beizhi Agriculture Journal” was founded,and developed into the current “Journal of Hebei Agricultural University”.It is the longest running journal of more than 100 years among Chinese agricultural journals.There were other important crop science journals in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China,which jointly promoted the exchange and dissemination of modern Crop Science in China.Crop scientists collected good crop varieties,classified crop varieties,began to use modern crop breeding theories and techniques to breed,applied genetic theory and biostatistics methods to guide breeding experiments,and carried out systematic genetic breeding research.They improved crop cultivation methods,introduced foreign varieties,selected crop varieties,and bred many effective varieties of crops such as rice,wheat,cotton,corn,soybeans in a purposeful and planned manner.In the process of experimental research,Chinese crop researchers,based on Chinese specific national conditions,combined with the practice of teaching,scientific research and production,published articles on crop science and systematically introduced crop science knowledge.These achievements had begun to attract the attention of the international crop academic circles and had international influence.Some research achievements had been enriched into teaching materials and works,and some had been directly applied to agricultural production.Many of these works had become the pioneering works of crop science,nurturing several generations of crop science and technology talents in China,and had played an important role in China’s agricultural education.In order to promote crop production,build rural areas,increase grain output and farmers’ income,they began to promote good varieties and crop cultivation techniques,establish experimental grounds,demonstrate and promote projects,hold training classes,send teachers to give lectures in the countryside,publicize new farm tools,and guide new farming techniques,popularize Crop Science knowledge.Crop science research and promotion had achieved remarkable development in China.China’s modern Crop Science started and developed in the midst of domestic and foreign troubles.Chinese Crop Science has been related to national policies and rural economy closely since its inception at the end of the 19 th century and the beginning of the20 th century.Although there were many difficulties and frequent wars during this period,with the efforts of a group of outstanding crop scientists of the University of Nanking,National Central University,etc and the Central Research Institute of Agricultural,they overcame the difficulties and engaged in various activities in Crop Science actively.In order to learn advanced western crop science knowledge and promote the development of Chinese crop science,modern Chinese crop science adopted the method of “going out,please come in”,sending students to overseas,hiring famous foreign crop science experts to teach and exchange in China,and cooperates with famous foreign agricultural universities.Although it could not completely change the backward rural areas at that time,it promoted the development of Chinese Crop Science.Its experience and enlightenment have had a profound impact on China’s Crop Science,and its achievements also laid a good foundation for the development of Crop Science in the People’s Republic of China.