In China, the most popular food you can find is definitely rice. We consume so much of it every year that it’s hard to keep up with the demand.
This year, the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center has recognized Yuan Longping, a renowned Chinese developer of hybrid rice, for his new world record yield.
Mr. Yuan is a renowned rice expert and an academician at Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) who became famous for pioneering hybrid rice in the 1970s when he significantly relieved China’s food crisis and was thus honored as the “father of hybrid rice”.
Longping has bred a new species of hybrid rice called Xiangliangyou 900, and has broken the “
” of an average yield of the hybrid rice–in 2017, he was able to yield an average of 1,149.01 kilograms, or 17.2 tons of rice per mu/ 0.07 hectares of farmland.
The new hybrid rice grows in a field in Handan City, North China’s Hebei Province. The province’s department of science and technology has verified that the hybrid rice project headed by Yuan, known as Xiangliangyou 900, achieved a world “
”.
This word, “
”, meaning “record,” is commonly used in hot news topics on the internet, in newspapers and other conversational media in China.
Let’s look at how it’s used correctly in sentences:
纪录 (jìlù): n. record.
创造 (chuàngzào) create + 纪录 (jìlù) record
Àoyùnhuì shàng, SūnYáng chuàngzào le xīn de shìjiè jìlù.
奥运会 上， 孙 杨 创造 了 新 的 世界 纪录。
At the Olympic Games, Sun Yang created a new world record.
Sometimes, we also use: 创 (chuàng) + 纪录 (jìlù), omit the word “造 (zào).”
Yuán Lóngpíng de zájiāo shuǐdào shēngchǎn chuàng le xīn jìlù.
袁 隆平 的 杂交 水稻 生产 创 了 新 纪录.
Yuan Longping’s hybrid rice sets new record in production.
打破 (dǎpò) break + 纪录 (jìlù) record
Tā xiǎng yào dǎpò jínísī shìjiè jìlù.
她 想 要 打破 吉尼斯 世界 纪录。
She attempts to break Guinness World Records.
Sometimes, we also use: 破 (pò) + 纪录 (jìlù), omit the word “打 (dǎ).”
Nǐ zài yóuyǒng xiàngmù shàng pò le shìjiè jìlù.
你 在 游泳 项目 上 破 了 世界 纪录。
You have broken the world record on swimming.
Last year, Jack won the championship with a new record in 400m men’s freestyle. But this year, Bob got a better score and won the championship in the same competition.
Now the truest statement would be: “Bob __ Jack’s record in 400m freestyle men.”
Choose the appropriate word to fill in the blank.
A. 破坏 (pòhuài)
B. 打破 (dǎpò)
C. 创造 (chuàngzào)
Jennifer Zhu is a professional Chinese teacher from eChineseLearning. She has many years of Chinese language teaching experience and received her B.A. and M.A. in “Teaching Chinese as a Second Language.”