他曾宣布袁隆平獲獎，還和習氏父子都握過手！——我眼中的世界糧食獎主席奎因大使

世界糧食獎主席奎因——

他曾宣布袁隆平獲獎，還和習氏父子都握過手！

 

(本文原載美國亞裔新聞（AANB）2016年5月30日）

 

“我是少有的與您和您的父親都握過手的美國人。”2012年，習近平訪美時，肯尼斯•奎因大使（Amb. Kenneth M. Quinn)這句話讓習近平大為驚訝。這位唯一被授予美國空軍獎章的平民，從美國駐柬埔寨大使，到現任世界糧食獎主席，他的經曆令人感歎。

2016年5月24日，美國愛荷華華人協會一行5人參加了由奎因大使主持的小型午餐會。埃姆斯高中十年級學生藍以青（Merrina Lan)在會後寫來中英文雙語文章，講述了她眼中的奎因大使。

我（左）與奎因大使（右）於午餐會的合影（來源：美國亞裔新聞局）

Me(left) and Amb.Quinn(Right) at the luncheon(Photo Credit: Asian American News Bureau)

   

“親愛的Merrina，很高興能和你在昨天的午餐中暢聊並讓你對我講的故事產生興趣。我希望在今後的世界糧食獎的活動中再次見到你。祝你高中學業順利！———Kenneth M.Quinn.”

2016年5月27日，我收到的這封郵件來自一位非同尋常的領導者：肯內斯·奎因。

     他是唯一被授予美國空軍獎章（US Army Air Medal）的平民，他曾擔任美國駐柬埔寨前任大使，從事外交工作長達32年，他是現任的世界糧食獎主席, 並於2004年3月29日在美國國務院舉行的儀式上宣布 “雜交水稻之父”袁隆平教授獲得一年一度的世界糧食獎。奎因大使稱讚這位水稻專家“為大大提高亞洲和非洲億萬人民的糧食安全取得了突破性的科學成就”^[1]。

     世界糧食獎（World Food Prize）設立於1986年，其總部位於美國愛荷華州得梅因市。世界糧食獎基金會每年會舉行一次頒獎典禮，授予“為人類提供營養豐富、數量充足的糧食作出突出貢獻的個人”。此獎被看作是國際農業領域的最高榮譽^[2]。 

       5月24日中午，在美國愛荷華州華人協會執行主席燕曉哲先生引見下，我們一行五人，在愛荷華州首府得梅因市阮氏大廈的頂層俱樂部餐廳，參加了由奎因大使主持的小型午餐會。奎因大使生動地講述了他的故事。

     在越戰期間，奎因大使成為了美國派往越南的千萬青年中的一員。他在越南學會了開飛機，說越南話，心地善良的他更多地關注到當地人民的生活。貧困的農民、貧瘠的山地，人們在窮困邊緣掙紮度日。

     慢慢地，他發現，修路最為重要。每當修建新路之後，就會很快解決當地農民的衣食短缺問題，戰士們的戰鬥力也能得以提高。這個規律使他意識到交通與糧食有著十分緊密的關係。

       越戰結束後，美國政府為嘉獎他的突出貢獻，給他提供了就讀哈佛大學的全額獎學金，而奎因大使卻選擇留在滿目瘡痍的越南，後來成為了美國駐柬埔寨大使。

     那時的他，原本以為自己將要在富麗堂皇的宮殿裏完成尊貴的外交任務，結果卻發現自己的辦公場所隻是幾間荒蕪的農村房子。

     說到這時，他和大家一起開懷大笑，笑容中飽含著一份幽默，更有一份自豪。 

      他在柬埔寨做了5年大使後，回到美國繼續從事外交工作。上個世紀七十年代，中美外交關係逐漸緩和。1979年，奎因大使與當時的愛荷華州州長雷伊先生一起訪問了中國。時任國務院副總理的鄧小平會見了他，之後，奎因大使又去了廣東省，見到了時任廣東省省長的習仲勳。

習仲勳（右）訪美時與當時的愛荷華州州長雷伊(左）交談（來源：央視網）

     一年之後，中國派遣一些省級領導到愛荷華州回訪雷伊州長，其中包括習仲勳^[3]。奎因大使與習仲勳探討了農業改革模式，強調了農民自主管理土地的重要性。他提出的方針很大程度上影響了中國之後的農村改革，改革後的中國農業生產率大大提高，供給了十幾億的人口^[4]。       

      2012年，時任國家副主席的習近平來到愛荷華州參觀世界糧食獎的頒獎大廳。在奎因大使與習近平握手時，笑著說：“我是少有的與您和您的父親都握過手的美國人。” 習近平大為驚訝，高興地和大使交談。

      奎因大使在即將退休時，有人舉薦他擔任世界糧食獎主席的職務，他毫不猶豫就答應了。然而，當時的世界糧食獎委員會隻由幾個人組成，知名度也非常有限。奎因大使誌向高遠，他希望把世界糧食獎變成人們眼中的“諾貝爾農業獎”，把愛荷華州的得梅因變成重要的農業交流之都。 

2009年 1月19日，奎因大使（中）於華盛頓特區接受美國空軍獎章榮譽。左為美國副國務卿約翰·尼葛洛龐帝，右為參議員萊納德·博斯韋爾(圖片來源：World Food Prize Amb.奎因 photos)   

        的確，奎因大使的理想在一點一點實現：每年，都有很多全美乃至世界的高端農業會議、展會在此召開；從愛荷華州首府得梅因市（Des Moines)，到得梅因的“後花園”安克尼市（Ankeny)，再到愛荷華州立大學所在的大學城埃姆斯市（Ames），建立了著名的農業生態走廊^[5]，匯聚了眾多農業與生物科學產業；各大企業每年都向世界糧食獎基金會捐助大量資金，資助全美優秀大學生、高中生赴非洲、亞洲進行農業課題研究。世界糧食獎成為了愛荷華州的一顆耀眼的明珠。

        聽完奎因大使的故事，我頗受啟發，農業對於我們人類，特別是那些還處在貧困線下的人們是如此重要。到2050年，我們預計將要供養90億人口，提高農業生產率至關重要。他們促進了各種組織、企業與農場、農民之間的交流，推動農業技術的改革創新，吸引更多青年學子參與並熱愛農業研究，關注人類的可持續發展。“民以食為天”，他們正致力解決的是人類的基本生存問題。

       我暗暗下定決心，明年，我將不會辜負奎因大使的期望，要做一份高質量的課題研究，參加世界糧食獎會議的交流，發出來自高中校園的呼聲，為那些貧困人群的生存和健康做一點微薄的貢獻。

 

【英文原文】

He announced the award recipient Yuan Longping

and shook hands with the two Xis

——President of the World Food Prize

 

Merrina(Yiqing) Lan（Ames High School 2018）

“Dear Merrina, I am glad that you found my presentation interesting. I very much hope to see you at World Food Prize youth Institute events in the future. Good luck with your studies at Ames high school! ———Kenneth Quinn”

On May 27th, 2016, I received this email from Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, an extraordinary leader who has spent 32 years working in the Foreign Service. Ambassador Quinn has a series of impressive achievements, he is the only civilian to be awarded the US Army Air Medal, he served in the Vietnam War and was a former ambassador to Cambodia. In 2000, he assumed leadership of the World Food Prize Foundation. On March 3rd, 2004, Amb.Quinn announced the two annual World Food Prize winners, one of them was the Chinese “Father of the Hybrid Rice” Professor Yuan Longping. He highly praised Prof.Yuan for greatly improving food security for millions of people in Asia and Africa by making scientific breakthroughs^[1].

About the World Food Prize(from the official website):

Since 1986, The World Food Prize has honored outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions to improving the quality, quantity or availability of food throughout the world. In 1990, Des Moines businessman and philanthropist John Ruan assumed sponsorship of The Prize and established The World Food Prize Foundation, located in Des Moines, Iowa. The World Food Prize also annually hosts the Borlaug Dialogue international symposium to bring the world's foremost experts together to discuss cutting-edge issues in food security, and multiple youth education programs to inspire the next generation to study and work in fields related to global agriculture^[2].

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte(left), Ambassador Kenneth Quinn(middle), and Congressman Leonard Boswell(right) at the January 13 ceremony in Washington D.C.(Photo Credit:World Food Prize Amb.Quinn photos)

 

With the invitation from President Yan of the Chinese Association of Iowa,I had the honor to join a luncheon held at the Embassy Club of the Ruan Center. Amb.Quinn was the speaker, he told us numerous interesting stories of his life.

During the Vietnam War, Amb.Quinn was sent to Vietnam as a young man. He learned to fly planes and became fluent in Vietnamese. He was also concerned about the living condition of local civilians. Gradually he found that whenever new roads are built, the problems of food and clothing deficiency would be alleviated, soldiers would also fight more effectively. This interesting discovery led him to realize how transportation and agriculture are closely related.

The US government offered Amb.Quinn full scholarship to study at Harvard University after the Vietnam War ended. However, Amb.Quinn chose to stay in Vietnam and he later became the US ambassador to Cambodia. He thought that his office would be located inside magnificent palaces. But he later found that he would be working in poor village cabins. At that moment, Amb.Quinn laughed with all the audience with both humor and pride.

Amb.Quinn returned to the US and continued his career in foreign services after his five-year term being the ambassador to Cambodia. By the 1970s, the US-China relationship gradually normalized. In 1979, Amb.Quinn accompanied Iowa Gov. Robert Ray on one of the first post-normalization of relations exchange visits to China. He met senior leader Deng Xiaoping and Xi Zhongxun, the governor of Guangdong province.

A year later, a delegation of Chinese provincial leaders traveled to Iowa to reciprocate the visit of Gov.Ray, which was led by Gov.Xi Zhongxun^[3]. Amb.Quinn and Gov.Xi discussed agricultural reform and emphasized the importance of allowing farmers to manage their own lands. His ideas greatly influenced the reform in rural China which increased productivity and successfully fed its population of more than a billion^[4].

Gov.Xi(right) talking with Gov.Ray(left) during his visit to Iowa (Photo Credit: cntv net)

 

In 2012, Xi Jinping, the son of Gov. Xi Zhongxun, was the vice president of China and he visited the Hall of Laureates of the World Food Prize. When President Xi shook hands with Amb.Quinn, he was told that Amb.Quinn also shook hands with his father. President Xi was greatly surprised and he was glad to meet Amb.Quinn.

When Amb.Quinn came to the age of retirement, he was asked if he wanted to take the position as the president of the World Food Prize. He agreed. But at that time, the World Food Prize Foundation had very few workers, and it was not widely known. Amb.Quinn was determined to let the World Food Prize become the Nobel Prize of Agriculture and turn Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, into an important city for agricultural communications.

Indeed, the World Food Prize is developing towards their expectations. Cutting-edge agricultural conferences and exhibitions take place in Des Moines every year. Des Moines, Ankeny, and Ames are dubbed “Cultivation Corridor”, which intended to make Central Iowa the hub for the agriculture and bioscience industry^[5]. Large companies donate a considerable amount of scholarships to high-achieving college and high school students to conduct agricultural research in Africa and India each year. The World Food Prize is now a highlight of the state of Iowa.

I was greatly inspired after listening to Amb.Quinn’s story. Agriculture plays a significant role in human lives, especially those that live in poverty. By 2050, it is estimated that the world will have to feed a population of 9 billion. This could not be achieved without the increase in food productivity. The World Food Prize helped form networks between organizations, firms and farmers, encouraged innovations and attracted young scholars to engage in agricultural projects and focus on sustainability. A Chinese proverb can describe why they are tackling these challenges, “Food is the paramount necessity of the people.”

After realizing that so many people around the world are doing their best to contribute to food security, I decided to do a high-quality research next year, advance into the Global Youth Institute and contribute my efforts. Hopefully, I would meet Amb.Quinn again and show him my achievements as a young biologist.

 

Bibliography：

1. XinHua News <http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2004-03/30/content_1391180.htm>

2. Hall of Laureates <http://www.worldfoodprize.org/en/hall_of_laureates/welcome_to_the_hall_of_laureates/>

3. World Food Prize News <https://www.worldfoodprize.org/index.cfm/24667/17309/kenneth_quinn_iowa_and_china_have_come_full_circle>

4. Reminiscence of the agricultural reform in the rural China, Tian Jiyuan <http://www.ce.cn/ztpd/xwzt/guonei/2004/jdzg/hywg/jdyk/200406/25/t20040625_1151444.shtml>

5. The Des Moines Register, Ames-Des Moines region dubbed 'Cultivation Corridor' <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2014/04/21/ames-des-moines-bioscience-corridor-branding/7961381/>

參考資料：

1. 新華社 <http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2004-03/30/content_1391180.htm>

2. 世界糧食獎名人堂<http://www.worldfoodprize.org/en/hall_of_laureates/welcome_to_the_hall_of_laureates/>

3. 世界糧食獎新聞<https://www.worldfoodprize.org/index.cfm/24667/17309/kenneth_quinn_iowa_and_china_have_come_full_circle>

4. 回顧中國農村改革曆程，田紀元<http://www.ce.cn/ztpd/xwzt/guonei/2004/jdzg/hywg/jdyk/200406/25/t20040625_1151444.shtml>

5. 得梅因紀事，埃姆斯至得梅因的生態走廊<http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2014/04/21/ames-des-moines-bioscience-corridor-branding/7961381/>