Plant pathologist honored as role model

BEIJING -- The Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Monday conferred the title of "role model of the times" on Zhu Youyong, a famous plant pathologist.

Zhu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and honorary president of Yunnan Agricultural University, has devoted himself to poverty alleviation in Southwest China's Yunnan province.

Voluntarily working in a poverty-stricken region inhabited by ethnic minority groups, Zhu led villagers in developing local specialty industry and trained over 1,000 people as pioneers in raising income with farming technology.

Zhu has made a number of well-recognized achievements in agricultural technology development and has been committed to promoting the application of research findings in the field.

Zhu's dedication has earned him many awards, including the second prize in national sci-tech progress awards, outstanding Party member and model teacher of the country.