Infographics: Exchanges between Chinese and Arab civilizations on Silk Road (8)

In 2017, the UAE government invited a team from the Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center to carry out a trial planting of rice in local deserts.

Under the leadership of China's "father of hybrid rice" Yuan Longping, the team of Chinese scientists overcame unfavorable local conditions through innovation to create technology for improving the soil of saline-alkali land. In 2018, the team achieved initial success in growing and harvesting rice in Dubai’s deserts, with the highest yield per mu (a unit of area that equals 667 square meters) exceeding 500 kilograms. This was the world's first successful rice planting experiment conducted in tropical desert conditions.