by Xinhua writer Ding Yinghua
BRUSSELS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- A group of Belgian students walks through a greenhouse on the outskirts of Chongqing, China, where fields of tender seedlings stretch out beneath their feet. Leading them is Francois Serneels -- a Belgian agronomist affectionately nicknamed "Dr. Bethune of Potato," after the Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune who became a hero in China for his dedication to the Chinese people's fight against Japanese aggression in 1938.
Captured in an old photo stored on Serneels' phone, such a field study in China with Belgian students is a familiar scene for Serneels.
Over the past two decades, Serneels has crossed continents more than 60 times, tirelessly traveling into China's rural heartlands. His mission: to help Chinese farmers grow better potatoes and train the next generation of agronomists. He often brings Belgian students or fellow scientists along.
Serneels likens his connection to China to a childhood comic book adventure. "My story with China is a little like Tintin's," Serneels said, referring to The Blue Lotus, a classic Belgian comic he read as a child. "In the story, a young reporter goes to China and becomes friends with a Chinese guy. I visited China later in life and can say my best friend is a Chinese guy."
That friend is Che Xingbi, an agronomist from Chongqing. The friendship began in 1999, when Serneels went to Beijing for the first China International Agricultural Expo and the first International Conference on Plant Protection. There, he presented a predictive system developed by the Hainaut Provincial Research Center in Belgium to help farmers combat potato late blight -- a fast-spreading disease that devastates potato crops.
Che was intrigued and invited Serneels to Wuxi, a remote mountainous region in northeastern Chongqing, where local farmers were struggling with repeated outbreaks of the disease. The Belgian system proved transformative. In the years that followed, potato yields in Wuxi rose significantly, and the humble tuber became a pillar of local poverty alleviation efforts.
Today, the system is used in around 16 provincial-level regions in China, helping farmers avoid major losses.
Che credits much of this success to Serneels' professionalism and dedication. Jiang Ning, another close friend of Serneels and a professor at the University of Mons in Belgium, recounts an anecdote about Serneels. During a trip to Hulunbuir in Inner Mongolia, Serneels' luggage did not arrive, but the first item he purchased was a pair of high-top rubber boots -- essential equipment for fieldwork. "That choice showed Francois's focus on getting the job done," Jiang said.
FROM "WIN-WIN" TO "ALL WIN"
Their cooperation on this system, already in application for years in China, fed back into the method Serneels and his Belgian colleagues used to approach agricultural technology back home.
Belgium's original potato late-blight warning system was largely manual. "Farmers used to go to the weather stations, note down the temperature and rainfall, and call the scientists by phone," Serneels explained. "We would then draw curves and analyze how the blight is developing manually. By 1999, only a basic automation of the system had been achieved."
Such methods were impractical in China, given the country's vast agricultural areas. That challenge prompted Serneels' Chinese partners to develop advanced computing and data transmission systems to fully automate the process. "We designed the first system, but we got back a much more powerful version from China," Serneels said. "It was a real win-win cooperation."
That upgraded version is now also in use in Rwanda, Guinea, and Bangladesh. Serneels calls this expansion "the cherry on the cake," and "a very interesting example of shared progress for humanity."
With the world confronting urgent challenges, including climate change, food insecurity, and energy shortages, Serneels said he believes such collaboration is essential. "Europe has advanced research, and China has vast fields for application and innovation. Put together, as we did with the potato system, we can achieve great things."
FIELD STUDY BUILDS UNDERSTANDING
Having witnessed the transformation of rural China firsthand, Serneels is passionate about showing his students these changes. Almost every year, he organizes trips for Belgian students to visit China, sometimes leading groups of up to 57 participants, with a strong focus on rural immersion.
Guillaume De Vriendt, a student from Condorcet University, said he had discovered a China largely unfamiliar to most Westerners and often misrepresented by stereotypes.
Serneels said he believes that personal experience is the key to deeper understanding. "Only by seeing rural China, staying a few days, and meeting local students, farmers, and scientists can they begin to understand the real China."
The results have been encouraging: more than 20 of his students have returned to China for extended internships or research projects after their initial visits.
To explain cultural differences while highlighting common ground, Serneels often compares cheese and tofu: "In Europe, we have hundreds of cheeses; in China, many kinds of tofu. Cheese is transformed milk; tofu is transformed soy protein. The tastes differ, but both are symbolic and nutrient-rich," he said.
Recognizing commonalities, he believes, is key to lasting collaboration across borders.
On the eve of another trip to China with a new group of students, Serneels offered a simple blessing in Mandarin: "Yi lu ping'an," which means "safe journey." For him, it was more than a farewell - a quiet hope for the future of China-EU relations as well.
"China and the EU have a long road ahead," he said. "But by walking it together, we can build a more stable, trusting, and fruitful partnership - a journey like a well-tended field that promises a lasting harvest of friendship and progress." Enditem
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