Zou Bingwen (1893-1985)
Zou Bingwen, a native of Wuxian, Jiangsu Province, was born in 1893 in Guangzhou. He travelled across the ocean in 1910 to study in the US. At Cornell University, he changed his major from mechanical engineering to study plant pathology in the College of Agriculture. His aim was to improve China's agriculture which had been declining due to severe pests and diseases.
In 1916, he returned to China as a professor at University of Nanking. He was known as ‘the first person to teach Plant Pathology in China’. After the establishment of Southeast University in 1921, Premier Zhou Enlai referred to Mao Yisheng, Yang Xingfo and Zou Bingwen as the "Three Heroes of Southeast Asia". He helped build the country's first ammonium sulfate fertilizer plant in Nanjing to promote the development of chemical fertilizers. Later, he actively promoted the establishment of the Central Agricultural Laboratory (currently Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences), which can be regarded as a superficial exploration of China's modern agriculture through science and education.
Mr. Zou Bingwen attended the World Food and Agriculture Conference held from May 18 to June 3, 1943, and was elected Vice Chairman of the FAO Preparatory Committee. On October 16, 1945, Mr. Zou Bingwen signed the FAO Constitution on behalf of China, making China one of the founders of FAO.
The Bronze Statue of Mr. Zou Bingwen was erected on the ground floor lobby of the Zonghe Building on 16 October 2020. He was a famous agronomist and agricultural educator in China, as well as the main founder of China’s higher agricultural education. He was the pioneer of Chinese plant pathology education, modern agricultural science and education, and one of the founders of the Chinese Agricultural Society. Moreover, he was the main founder of both the Science Society of China and China Association of Agricultural Science Societies (CAASS).