When the haearse left Xiangya Hospital in , Changsha Hunan Province, on May 22, it was the setting of an unusual scene. A large crowd stood outside the hospital to say farewell to the man in it and they began to cry out, "Grandpa Yuan, rest in peace!"
Yuan Longping, known as the father of hybrid rice in China, died of organ failure on May 22 at the age of 91. But the legacy he left behind will continue to improve food security and research around the world and inspire generations of agro-scientists. His research helped feed 1.4 billion Chinese, nearly one fifth of the world's population, by growing high-yield hybrid rice though China has less than 9 percent of the arable land in the world.