LAUSR

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the published paper “Male Sterility in Rice” written by Professor Longping Yuan in the journalChinese Science Bulletin, Professor Qifa Zhang published a topical collection Fifty Glorious Years of Hybrid Rice by soliciting contributions in 2016, which he provided to the editorial department of Chinese Science Bulletin. The collection includes 17 articles that describe Professor Zhang’s perspective and the insights of relevant experts, along with a reprint of the original paper, and interviews with Prof. Yuan (Zhang, 2016). The articles in the collection recount the history and achievements of hybrid rice research and applications from historical and scientific perspectives, and describe the development of three-line hybrid rice, two-line hybrid rice, indica/japonica hybrid rice, super hybrid rice, and sustainable “green” hybrid rice, starting in the 1970s (Yu et al, 2016; Ren et al, 2016). This collection also describes recent major successes in identifying the genetic andmolecular basis of hybrid rice in the twenty-first century. Chinese scientists made great contributions to this solution for food security in China and the world by constant technological innovation in the field of hybrid rice in the past 50 years. The collection gives a beautiful picture of the continuous struggle of rice researchers and provides us an opportunity to relive existing knowledge and reconsider future research in hybrid rice. Chinese hybrid rice makes a major contribution to world grain production and hybrid rice research in China has made incredible progress in the past half-century, since Professor Longping Yuan discovered the male sterile rice plants from