Northwest A&F University School of Plant Protection
Wang Baotong Professor
Li Zhenqi (1922-2007), from Zunhua, Hebei. Member of the Communist Party of China, professor of Northwest A&F University, doctoral supervisor, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, expert of special government allowance of of the State Council, famous plant pathologist and expert of wheat rust. He has served as deputy director and director of the Plant Protection Department of Northwest Agricultural University and director of the Graduate Department of Northwest Agricultural University. He also serves as vice chairman of Chinese Plant Pathology Society , director of the Northwest Branch of the Chinese Plant Pathology Society, a member of the first and second discipline evaluation group of the State Council Academic Degree Committee, and a member of the Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Group of the State Education Commission Science and Technology Committee. It has successively won the titles of Outstanding Teachers of Key Agricultural Colleges Deployed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Outstanding Teachers of Shaanxi Higher Education System, Advanced Educator, Shaanxi Province Expert with Outstanding Contributions, Shaanxi Province Science and Technology Elite, International Plant Protection Science Research Outstanding Contribution Award and other titles. He won the National Science Conference Award, the Second Prize of National Natural Science Award, the First Prize of Shaanxi Science and Technology Progress, the Heliang Heli Foundation Science and Technology Progress Award, etc., and has made outstanding contributions to the prevention and control of wheat stripe rust in my country and its talent training.
1 Patriotism and love for farmers, and unswervingly
On September 4, 1922, Li Zhenqi was born in an ordinary peasant family in Xiazhuang Village, Tuanpiaozhuang Township, Zunhua City, Hebei Province. During the July 7 Incident, his hometown fell, and the people in his hometown were ravaged and trampled by the Japanese invaders. Soon, he actively participated in various activities organized by the Eighth Route Army guerrillas. It was during this period that locust was rampant in his hometown every year, making the lives of the people in his hometown miserable. Hearing and witnessing this natural disaster, he secretly made up his mind to join the revolution, follow the Eighth Route Army of the Communist Party to drive the Japanese invaders out of China; learn the knowledge of eliminating crop diseases and pests and diseases, and relieve the suffering of farmers. Later, he was admitted to Shanxi University and studied at . In order to fight against the Japanese invaders, he resolutely signed up to join Youth Expeditionary Force . After Japan surrendered to , he transferred from Shanxi University to study at the Department of Plant Diseases and Pests of Northwest Agricultural College. During his study, he joined the Communist Youth League of China and the Communist Party of China successively. In May 1949, when Shaanxi was liberated, he also graduated and stayed at school to teach.
In 1950, wheat stripe rust became a nationwide pandemic, losing 6 billion kilograms of food. This disaster strongly shocked the hearts of Academician Li and others. Under the care of the central leadership, a national cooperative committee specializing in the study and prevention of wheat stripe rust was quickly formed, and Mr. Li was the backbone of the science and technology in the northwest region. After six years of arduous investigation, we finally figured out the laws of wheat stripe rust bacteria in the northwest region's summer and wintering and epidemic transmission, and proposed prevention and control methods. We wrote an epoch-making academic paper "Preliminary Research on the Procedure of Wheat Stripe Rust in Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai", which laid a solid foundation for studying the epidemic system of wheat stripe rust in China. We are known as "the pioneer in the prevention and control of wheat stripe rust in China." The achievements have won the National Science Conference Award and the National Natural Science Second Prize.
2 Pursuing excellence and constantly innovating
Mr. Li has always taken the occurrence rules of wheat stripe rust and its comprehensive prevention and control as the main focus. He has not only made significant contributions to agricultural production, but also made a series of academic achievements. Since the 1950s, my country has caused seven major wheat varieties to change due to the loss of wheat varieties with anti-strip rust. Mr. Li led the team to study this for more than 50 years, and finally figured out the causes and occurrence patterns of the loss of rust resistance in wheat varieties, and proposed corresponding control measures. At the same time, he combined his guidance to graduate students to study the mutation mechanism of wheat stripe rust bacteria at the cellular, subcellular and molecular levels, and successively clarified that mutations and heteronuclear effects were the main ways of toxicity mutation of wheat stripe rust bacteria; established a molecular genetic marker system of DNA in my country; revealed the bacterial source transmission relationship of rust bacteria in different wheat cultivation areas in my country, and obtained direct evidence of " gene drift " for the first time. After the results of this study were published in international journals, it attracted peer attention and was cited by the paper "Science", an important international academic journal.
In the early 1990s, Mr. Li, who was nearly 70 years old, took the lead in buying a computer in Xinong . He was the first to install the latest Windows operating system and the first to use the email system. Later, he took the lead in offering a course on "Computer Application Technology" to graduate students in majoring in plant pathology .
In the 1990s, molecular biology at home and abroad had developed rapidly, and due to financial and information occlusion, our school has not been carried out, and the gap with domestic and foreign research is getting bigger and bigger. The teacher is very anxious. He asked provincial leaders and school leaders for instructions and reports many times, demanding that our school’s own molecular biology laboratory be established as soon as possible. With his efforts, the provincial government invested more than 1 million yuan in 2001 to establish the key laboratory of Shaanxi Agricultural Molecular Biology in Key Laboratory , which quickly improved the research level of our school's biotechnology and agricultural molecular biology, and also made the approval of the National Key Laboratory of Adversity in Crop Biology in Arid Areas.
3: Cultivate talents and be willing to be a ladder
Mr. Li pays great attention to discipline construction and team building. As early as the 1950s, Mr. Li studied the path of success in the Soviet Union. At that time, he realized that whether it is the individual growth of talents or the development of talents, there are certain regularities. It is undoubtedly of great significance to explore this law and cultivate talents according to this law, and to form a reasonable and efficient talent echelon. For many years, he has been trying to explore and practice this idea. Whether he is the "head coach" of research or he also works in various administrative work, he treats himself as a "ladder". He said that everyone is my teacher, and I am willing to be a friend. He did all his strength to form a reasonable echelon for his academic group and form like-minded cohesion and synergy.
In order to broaden the horizons of each comrade, he contacted many parties to ask more comrades in the phytology discipline to go abroad to open their horizons, gain knowledge, and practice skills, understand the latest international trends of this major, and then use them to share their own research work. Under his leadership, the Plant Pathology Discipline has successively created relatively stable and complete teaching and research rooms for disciplines such as plant immunity, plant fungi, plant ecology and plant virus , forming a scientific and technological innovation team with a reasonable talent echelon structure, united and cooperative, vigorous and enterprising spirit. The phytology discipline was approved as a key discipline of the Ministry of Agriculture in 1999, and was approved as a national key construction discipline by the Ministry of Education in 2002, and was successively awarded the Science and Technology Innovation Team of Northwest A&F University and the Ministry of Education. In 2006, it was approved as a "Plant Pathology Talent Base" construction project of the Ministry of Education and the National Foreign Experts Administration. In 2007, the phytology discipline was successfully evaluated by the Ministry of Education and was re-approved as a national key construction discipline. Inspired by his spirit, in the 2021 national "Double First-Class" discipline assessment, our school's Plant Protection discipline has entered the national "Double First-Class" discipline key construction sequence.
4: Set an example and set an example
What benefited us a lot from Mr. Li is his extraordinary personality charm. He is approachable, from his teachers and leaders to his students, colleagues, assistants, farmers, etc. Anyone who has come into contact with Academician Li Zhenqi will be impressed by his approachable, helpful and kind personality charm. Mr. Li often teaches us a saying, "Suffering losses is a blessing. No matter who we cooperate with, we must first take the attitude of suffering losses and not take fame and fortune too seriously. Only in this way can people be willing to cooperate with you, you will have more partners, gain everyone's trust, and achieve great results." In 2002, Academician Li won the Ho Liang He Li bonus for his outstanding scientific research achievements and contributions. After winning the award, Academician Li donated a total of HK$200,000 and established the Plant Pathology Innovation Research Award to reward fresh masters, doctoral students and postdoctoral personnel who have obtained innovative research in this field. Researchers are encouraged to innovate boldly to promote the development of the discipline of plant pathology in China. Currently, the fund has awarded more than 120 PhD and Master graduates in recognition of their outstanding achievements in the field of plant pathology.
Mr. Li was busy with work during his tenure as the head of the plant protection department. But as long as there are group activities, he can set an example and work with everyone. I remember that I had to clean the indoor and outdoor every Saturday afternoon. No matter how busy Mr. Li is, he will put down his work and join the labor. Just after he became an academician in his 70s, when the plant pathology test station moved, he personally cleaned the test station with everyone. There are countless things like this. This spirit of his will still infect everyone in our plant pathology subject.
Mr. Li is still a person who is indifferent to fame and fortune. He serves as a part-time or honorary professor at many universities in China, and also serves as a leader and academic consultant to many academic groups, but all his part-time jobs are obligated, and he has never received a penny of part-time expenses and has no part-time housing per square meter. In the face of fame and fortune, Mr. Li first thought of others. When the year-end allowance is paid every year, Mr. Li always thinks of everyone who works together and distributes it according to their contributions, and leaves himself with almost as many people as ordinary participants, and never gives himself a penny extra. It is precisely because of Mr. Li's respectable personality charm and noble qualities that he has successively won the reputation of "Education Master", "People's Ladder", "Education Model", and "Mysterious Doctor of Protecting Farms".
In December 2003, on the way to investigate the occurrence of wheat stripe rust in Hanzhong , wheat stripe rust, the author of this article took a photo with Academician Li
