The 14th Asia Pacific Research Prize (Iue Prize) “Commendation” winner:
Dr. Li Haixun

- Summary -

Focusing on what agricultural techniques should be like, this paper chronologically clarifies the development of cold-climate rice cultivation in northeast China within the international framework from a long-term perspective.

Rice cultivation took root and expanded in northeast China in the 1910s onward through the introduction of Japanese cold-hardy rice varieties brought in by Korean and Japanese people. These Japanese varieties, which were also fertilizer-resistant, became widespread in northeast China before World War II and formed the foundation of rice cultivation in northeast China during the New China era, which began in 1949.

Since the start of the New China era, rice cultivation developed dramatically in northeast China. To resolve issues related to rice cultivation techniques, many technical innovations took place in China and many improvements were made in the rice cultivation techniques introduced from North Korea and Japan. These techniques were introduced into villages across the region through the agricultural extension system in China. The following techniques introduced in around 1980 were particularly important: a package technique consisting of a plastic greenhouse, the method of raising seedlings in nursery boxes and rice planting by machine; a pH level adjustment technique; and a water management technique.

Today, standardized rice cultivation techniques have been well established and accepted in northeast China and the region’s rice productivity per unit of land has already reached the same level as South Korea and Japan. Against the backdrop of such standardized rice cultivation techniques, we have seen a new trend of demand for large-scale management over the past few years.