Zhao Zhihai shows the millet ears he brought from Zhangjiakou of Hebei in an interview during the second session of the 14th National People's Congress, March 8, 2024. [Photo by Zhang Chi] 

Among the delegation of Heibei Province at the second session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, one would easily notice an elderly, swarthy man with a big smile. He brought millet straws and ears with him and enthusiastically showed them to fellow deputies, journalists, and other people on the site. His name is Zhao Zhihai. Hailed as the "father of hybrid millet," 66-year-old Zhao is the chief expert at the Zhangjiakou Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province. 

Passion for millet

Zhao was born into a farmer's family in Zhangjiakou's Huailai County. Due to food shortage, he grew up eating millet, which used to be a primary grain in northern China. As a child, he watched family elders calculate how much land to plant, what yield could be expected, and whether it could be enough to feed the family. Deeply aware of the hardships faced by farmers, he always thought about whether there would be a way to harvest more crops. When college entrance examinations resumed in 1977, he applied for college immediately and got admitted into the agriculture major at the Hebei Agricultural University in Baoding, aspiring to utilize advanced agricultural knowledge to improve yields and benefit peasants. He completed an internship in millet research in college. After graduating in 1982, he was assigned to an agricultural institute in Zhangjiakou, where a millet research laboratory was short on talent. Thus, he formally embarked on a career in millet research.