Yu Shuxun

Yu Shuxun was a Chinese cotton genetic breeder who served as director of the Cotton Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences from 2001 to 2013, a former president of the China Cotton Association, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Biography

Yu was born into a peasant family in Macheng County, Hubei, on 1 November 1953. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in April 1972. In 1976, after the end of the Cultural Revolution, he was accepted to Huazhong Agricultural College, where he majored in agronomy. He obtained his doctor's degree from Northwest A&F University in 2003.
Starting in July 1989, Yu served in several posts in the Cotton Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, including deputy director, deputy division director, and assistant director. He moved up the ranks to become director in July 2001, and served until January 2013. In 2016, he was recruited as a doctoral supervisor of Zhejiang A&F University.
On 7 September 2025, Yu died in Hainan, at the age of 71.

1995 State Science and Technology Progress Award for a new cotton variety suitable for wheat-cotton double cropping and summer intercropping - Zhongmiansuo 16
1999 State Science and Technology Progress Award for a new low-phenol cotton variety suitable for wheat-cotton double cropping and summer intercropping - Zhongmiansuo 20
2004 State Science and Technology Progress Award for biochemical assisted breeding technology has been used to select high-quality, multi-resistant, and high-yielding new varieties - Zhongmiansuo 24, 27, and 36
2010 Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation
2011 Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering