Zhang Fuqing, combat hero, born December 1924

Zhang, a combat hero, served as a People's Liberation Army soldier in the Liberation War and was twice awarded the title of Combat Hero. He volunteered in 1955 to work in Laifeng county, Hubei province's most remote county, so he could devote his life to the poor, mountainous region. He was former vice-head of the Laifeng branch of China Construction Bank.

Yuan Longping, agriculturalist, born in September 1930

Yuan, the Father of Hybrid Rice, is an agriculturalist who devoted himself to agricultural education and research. He was the first person in the world to develop a hybrid rice strain, and his research on higher rice yields helped provide a solution to worldwide hunger and starvation. He won China's top science award and many other honors at home and abroad.