september 17, 2018, the school of life sciences invited mr. liu mingting, a world-renowned expert in desert control and a former researcher of xinjiang institute of ecology and geography, chinese academy of sciences as well as a class 1953 alumnus of the department of biology at lanzhou university, to give a talk entitled "life of red willow" to class 2019 graduates, guiding them to make graduation plans and career choices. the meeting was hosted by liu fang, secretary of the party committee of the school of life sciences.
in his talk, mr. liu mingting told the participants about his experience in school of life sciences at lanzhou university, and shared his thoughts and career choices when he was graduating. after graduation in 1957, he applied to the ministry of higher education for working in xinjiang branch of the chinese academy of sciences. he chose desert and red willow as his companions and devoted his whole life to the research of seedling raising and forestation of red willow. he made indelible contributions to the work of wind prevention and sand fixation in xinjiang. he was honored as "liu hongliu" by the expert group of environment program of the united nations. at the same time, combined with his in-depth research, he successfully propagated cistanche deserticola for the first time, which not only enabled our country to have independent intellectual property rights, provided a large number of high-quality medicinal materials for the pharmaceutical industry, but also helped the local people to increase their incomes.
at the end of the meeting, mr. liu mingting also had a cordial communication with the 2019 graduates. mr. liu has donated precious plant specimens and his works to the school of life sciences for scientific research.