Autumn is deep under Daixia, and the fertile fields hide abundance. On October 10, a "big ideological and political course" based in Shandong, linked to the Yellow River, and radiating across the country kicked off at the foot of Mount Tai. The Internet-themed publicity and interactive guidance activities of the ideological and political course "Youth Chapter, Strengthening Agriculture and Serving the Country" guided by the Network Communication Bureau of the Central Cyberspace Administration of China were implemented at Shandong Agricultural University.
From the podium of a century-old university to the vast fields of Qilu, from the distant cultural context of farming and studying to the frontier of seed industry research, the event sets the stage with farming stories spanning 120 years, leading young people to enter the rural land and understand the critical importance of an agricultural power.
When the strong voice of the times of "Strengthening Farmers and Serving the Country" resonates with the students' pledge of "burning youth", this class has long transcended the stage itself - it is like a seed, solemnly handed over to the hands of a new generation of young people.
The fire of one hundred and twenty fires is passed down from generation to generation in the land.
Zhang Ran, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shandong Agricultural University, kicked off this ideological and political class with a set of data - at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, per capita grain possession was only 209 kilograms; now, the country's total grain output has stabilized at more than 1.3 trillion kilograms for 11 consecutive years, and per capita grain possession has exceeded 500 kilograms, well above the international food security line. The Chinese people's rice bowl has completed a leap from "not having enough to eat" to "having enough to eat" to pursuing "well-fed".
As the first institution in modern times to launch higher agricultural education in Qilu, for the past 120 years, generations of mountain farmers have been working in the fields to protect the granary of this great country with improved seeds and scientific research results. Zhang Ran encouraged the young people present that the responsibility of strengthening and revitalizing agriculture will eventually be handed over to young people, who should take root deep in the countryside and contribute to the construction of a strong agricultural country.
Principal Leng Changjian used "a bunch of wheat ears, a piece of light, and a handful of soil" to interpret the spiritual foundation of this school that has been accumulated for a hundred years - a bunch of wheat ears hides the sincerity of Academician Yu Songlie who traveled to the countryside to promote wheat technology and increase grain production by 8.72 billion kilograms; generations of scientific researchers such as Li Qingqi, Yu Zhenwen, and Li Zhensheng have guarded the wheat fields for decades, and many wheat cultivation and breeding achievements have won national science and technology awards. A bright light is a constant light in the laboratory. The scientific research team continues to tackle difficult problems such as crop improvement and plant regeneration, and young students continue to make breakthroughs in the innovation track. A handful of soil taken from the Yellow River beach has witnessed more than 30,000 teachers and students traveling to more than 50,000 villages in Qilu, building tens of thousands of rural revitalization stations and science and technology courtyards, and allowing technologies in the laboratory to be implemented in the fields.
On the stage, the scene interpretation reproduces the working years of the older generation of agricultural science workers. Li Denghai, a model of the times, adheres to the simple ideal of "letting the land produce more grain" and has been deeply engaged in corn breeding for decades. The compact corn varieties he developed have rewritten the corn planting pattern in my country and created hundreds of billions of social benefits. He is still on the front line of breeding after he is over 70 years old.
Li Hongbo, a young scholar born in 1995, has continued the legacy of his predecessors and deeply cultivated the field of potato disease resistance breeding. After tens of thousands of experiments, he built the world's largest potato disease resistance gene resource library, breaking foreign gene monopoly and vividly interpreting the youthful responsibility of young people in the new era to "stand on the shoulders of giants and continue to write a chapter of strong agriculture."
From the older generation of scientists sitting on the sidelines of scientific research and cultivating the fields for a lifetime, to the young people of the new era bravely venturing into no-man’s land of scientific research and overcoming the choked problems of the seed industry, the spirit of strengthening agriculture passed down from generation to generation has laid a solid foundation for national food security.
“I would rather die planting trees than let the sand bully me to death.” National model worker Yin Yuzhen came to the foot of Mount Tai from the Mu Us Desert. He went into the desert at the age of 19 and sold his only sheep in exchange for 600 tree saplings. Over the past 40 years, he and his family have planted more than 8 million trees. An American named Sekos, whom she had never met before, sent her $5,000. She only kept $1 as a souvenir and used the balance to buy 50,000 saplings. "Why should people trust a peasant woman planting trees in a sand nest? What she recognizes is the spirit of the Chinese people who refuse to admit defeat, refuse to accept fate, and dare to change the world."
From Mu Us to the mouth of the Yellow River, the changing story continues on the saline-alkali land. Zhang Dajian, deputy dean of the College of Agriculture of Shandong Agricultural University, said that my country has a huge demand for soybeans, but what should we do if there is no spare farmland? After five years of research, "Shandou No. 2" passed the approval of Shandong Province and became the first soybean variety of Shandong Agricultural University. Now, the youth team led by him is about to go to the experimental field at the mouth of the Yellow River, where there is a field of soybeans waiting to be harvested.
Generations of farmers wrote their papers into the soil and passed the "golden pole" to the hands of young people. Five professors from Shandong Agricultural University took the stage as "agricultural product designers" and used 60 seconds of quick questions and answers to show off the scientific and technological trump cards of China's agriculture.
Professor Zhang Xiansheng spent 20 years to solve the century-old mystery of plant cell totipotency; Professor Kong Lingrang cloned scab resistance genes for the first time in the world and conquered wheat "cancer"; Professor Li Chuanyou recovered the lost tomato flavor and cultivated new domestic varieties, with seed prices only one-fifth of imported ones; Professor Duan Qiaohong broke the reproductive isolation of cruciferous crops and gave Chinese cabbage "freedom to choose a mate"; Professor Wang Nan continued the research of his predecessors for 40 years and cultivated four types of red-fleshed apples with his team.
This "golden pole" for promoting agriculture is connected to laboratory papers at one end and field harvests and people's income at the other end. It is constantly shortening the distance between science and technology and people's livelihood.
Qilu is fertile soil, technology expands the boundaries of the granary
"Shandong people are tall, and their genes are the foundation, but what really supports their spirit is the land under their feet." Liu Kaichang, member of the Party Committee and Vice President of the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, expressed the confidence of Qilu Granary.
Shandong only uses 6% of the country's arable land and 1% of its fresh water resources to produce 8% of the country's grain. Its total output has remained stable at more than 110 billion jins for five consecutive years. The password behind it is: technology. "In 1980, the average yield of wheat in Shandong was 139 kilograms per mu. Today, on the saline-alkali land with a salt content of 3.03‰, the yield of 'Jimai 60' per mu is 587.1 kilograms." This achievement relies on good varieties, good methods, good opportunities, and good land, all in abundance.
Starting in 2021, Dezhou will launch the "half a ton of grain" scientific and technological research. The wheat and corn yield in the Qihe Experimental Zone hit a record of 1,881 kilograms per mu in two seasons, supporting Dezhou to build the country's first million-acre "half a ton of grain" demonstration area.
To practice the concept of big food, granaries are not only in fertile fields. The once barren land of the Yellow River Delta is now planted with salt-alkali tolerant alfalfa and fodder corn, with grain and grass rotation and grass raising for livestock. Relying on the 3,000-kilometer coastline, Shandong is building sea ranches, creating a continuous blue granary, enriching people's dining tables, and promoting everyone to move from "eating well" to "eating nutritiously and healthily".
Industrial revitalization is the most vivid footnote of rural revitalization. During the event, four industry leaders brought the counterattack story of the county's characteristic industries: Linqu Langde foie gras occupies 20% of the global market, achieving source independence; Guan County's Ganoderma production accounts for half of the country's production, and is exported to more than 20 countries relying on smart greenhouses; high-density kale has entered the European and American markets, and domestic new varieties have broken the monopoly of foreign seeds; Wendeng American ginseng production accounts for 30% of the global market, extending a tens of billions of health industry chain. Local specialties, relying on technology and whole industry chain thinking, have grown into world-class products.
Youth responds, embarking on a new journey in the countryside
The countryside is the spiritual homeland of the Chinese people, and cultivation is the foundation of life passed down from generation to generation. "People can stay away from the fields, but they cannot forget the land in their hearts." Zhao Defa, executive dean of the Writers Academy of Shandong University and the original author of "The Creation of All Things", explained with his personal insights into the countryside: The older generation of farmers depended on the fields as their livelihood, worked hard, and sought survival on the land; although young people in the new era do not have to stick to the fields, they should always be in awe of the countryside and care about the jobs of thousands of families, and continue to protect the Chinese nation's spiritual heritage of attaching importance to agriculture and consolidating its roots in the changing times.
Taking root in the local area and protecting food security requires not only deep emotional accumulation, but also the empowerment of cutting-edge technology to break through. The seed industry is the "chip" of agriculture and the lifeblood of food security. Astronaut Wang Yaping sent a message of youth through video, unlocking the scientific and technological secrets of space breeding. Wang Zhenzhen's team took the lead in completing the first breakthrough in potato space breeding in Shandong, using the special environment of space to shorten the breeding cycle, allowing aerospace technology to empower field harvests, and provide a "space accelerator" for the revitalization of the seed industry.
Although the tracks of struggle are different, the original intention of serving the country is the same. Asian Games champions Zhang Mingyu and Meng Xin, badminton world champion Zheng Yu, and martial arts world champion Bian Qing each came to the scene to share their stories of hard work on the field. The fighting attitude of athletes echoes the hard work and responsibility of new farmers and scientific researchers, vividly proving the value of youth, which will always bloom in the practice of dedication to the country and struggle for the people.
This "Youth Chapter, Strengthening Agriculture and Serving the Country" ideological and political course online theme publicity and interactive guidance activities were jointly organized by the Cyberspace Administration of Shandong Provincial Committee, Shandong Provincial Department of Education, Shandong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shandong Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League, Shandong Agricultural University, People's Daily Online, and the Cyberspace Affairs Commission of Tai'an Municipal Committee.
With ideology and politics as the soul, agriculture as the foundation, youth as the vein, and science and technology as the wings, the activity uses real stories to infiltrate the soul, uses hard-core achievements to demonstrate responsibility, and uses role models to lead growth. It comprehensively demonstrates Shandong's practice of Chinese-style agricultural and rural modernization and three-dimensionally interprets the mission of young people in the new era to strengthen agriculture.
The fertile soil is boundless and the future is promising. This major ideological and political course is not only an inheritance and baptism of the farming spirit, but also a mobilization and assembly of youth mission.
The earth is worthy of cultivation, and youth is worthy of the times. Every seed cultivated in the local soil will eventually break through the soil and grow; every young man who cares about his country will take root in the earth and rush to the mountains and seas to bloom his most beautiful youth in the fiery practice of rural revitalization and the construction of an agricultural power.
