Ding Ying

A famous Chinese agronomist. He was born in Gaozhou County (former Maoming County ), Guangdong Province.

Pre-1970's rice origin research began with Ding Ying who discovered wild rice in 1926 in east Guangzhou's Xiniuwei Marsh. In 1933, his Nurturing a New Guangdong Rice from Wild Rice outlined cultivated rice original habitat. For many years, he charted rice regions, selectively bred seed, cultivated rice, etc., systematically using ecology on cultivated rice origin, evolution and seed classification. In 1949, he suggested "an ancient South China Sea area" origin, repeated again in his 1957 article, but in August, 1961, he finished his China Paddy Rice Cultivation Study, mentioning Neolithic rice grain and plant remains in Yellow and Yangtze Valley potsherds; e.g.s, carbonized grain with Neolithic tools in Anhui's Wu River Haocheng Town site, Yangtze's Jing Mountain Qujialing and Shi River's Tianmen; burnt husks in Wuchang's Fangyin Dong, Wuxi's Xianlidun, Shidun, Anhui's Feidachendun, Nanjing's Miaoshan, Zhejiang Wuching's Xianshanyang and Hangzhou paddies and pottery rice impressions in SE Yunnan sites at Shizaishan, Jianchuan and Haimenkou. Early paddy rice cultivation in Yangtze and Yellow Valleys compare, but more Neolithic rice in the Pearl Basin need excavation.

Source:

Editor: Carrot Chen