Yuan Longping, Hybrid Rice, and the Meaning of Science in the Cultural Revolution and Beyond

This paper uses the case of hybrid rice to chart changes in the meanings science has carried in China from the Mao era to today. It begins by using Chinese journal articles to reconstruct the 1970s development of hybrid rice technology by a network of diverse historical actors. It then documents the emergence during the Hua Guofeng era (1976-1978) of a historical narrative of hybrid rice centered on the figures of Yuan Longping and Hua Guofeng. Finally, it surveys post-1978 biographies of Yuan Longping to identify changes and continuities in scientific values. The paper demonstrates that, although the reform era has witnessed the replacement of most of the Maoist vision of mass (or tu) science with a vision far more consistent with the values of international, professional (yang) science, the legacy of the Mao era can still be seen in a continued emphasis on certain aspects of Mao Zedong Thought, a strong narrative of nationalist triumphalism, and a celebration of Yuan Longping as an “intellectual peasant.”