Wang Jing, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and researcher of the Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-products of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) [Photo provided to cppcc.gov.cn]

Wang Jing holds a discussion with team members after conducting a survey on the effects of drugs on tomatoes in a greenhouse at the experiment base of the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the CAAS. [Photo provided to cppcc.gov.cn]

"I'm one of the most ordinary members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). I did nothing special but focus on two things: scientific research and fulfilling my duties as a CPPCC member," Wang Jing said on Jan 17, when she won an award for outstanding performance of duties in 2022.

In 2022, as a scientific researcher, Wang led her team to improve the rapid detection image recognition system and as a CPPCC member, she was proud to serve as the group administrator of the CPPCC's reading group, focusing on rural vitalization and delivering related reports.

Conquering agricultural-related difficulties for 10 years

Wang has been working for 18 years at the Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-products of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), a national-level scientific research institute on the quality and safety of agricultural products established in 2003.

On March 2, 2022, Wang served as the torchbearer of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games at the Beijing Grand Canal water transport wharf.

"The athletes' struggles and spirit of self-improvement are inspiring. We scientific researchers also need this spirit as we strive for scientific innovation achievements," Wang said.

Wang has embodied this spirit throughout her scientific career. Through more than 10 years of efforts, she led her team to invent the intelligent image recognition technology and the system for food safety and in vitro diagnosis based on colloidal gold strips and mobile terminals. Using reagent strips and a WeChat mini program, multiple pesticide residues can be detected in 5 minutes.

A questionnaire carried out by her team showed that more than 40 percent of consumers are concerned about pesticide residue most in regards to the quality of agricultural products. It usually takes one week to half a month for a professional laboratory to deliver a test report of pesticide residue, which was too slow for consumers. The rapid detection technology could perfectly solve the problem.

Despite the rapid development of 5G, cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT), Wang's research was still rocky. "We definitely met a lot of difficulties in conducting our scientific research, but we had to overcome them," Wang said, noting that intelligent image recognition is the core of the technology. Image recognition is affected by the light; when the light is different, the test results vary. Additionally, the pesticide test strip is hard to make because of the variety of different pesticides.

Thanks to the support in capital and staff from the CAAS, Wang and her team concentrated on the technical problems and carried out many experiments, and were finally able to solve the problems and make the technology feasible.

To Wang's delight, with the implementation of the revised Law of the People's Republic of China on Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products, rapid detection can be used as evidence for administrative enforcement. Wang, as a scientist and a CPPCC member, has provided technological support and pushed forward the building of traceability system and the legalization of rapid detection applications.

"In the future, I will lead my team to continue to develop detection technology to reduce costs and improve convenience," she said.

One of CPPCC members

Wang is the head of a reading group of the CPPCC National Committee that focuses on rural vitalization. The reading group includes more than 2,000 members of the CPPCC National Committee to study the relevant documents and policies together and share their ideas. Wang is responsible for organizing online and on-site reading activities.

As the group administrator, Wang logs in the reading group three times a day to encourage group members to express their ideas. Whoever shares ideas in the chat group, Wang always gives a warm response. "Our group members give their suggestions after considerable deliberation. If no one responds or interacts with them, they will lose their enthusiasm," she explained.

Since becoming a member of the CPPCC National Committee, Wang has paid more attention to every aspect of the nation’s development and participated in surveys more actively.

In July 2021, Wang participated in a survey on promoting the construction of a quality and safety traceability system of agricultural products in key areas. She visited and investigated supermarkets, wholesale markets and plantation bases to learn about the demands of staff for new quick detection methods.

"Surveys are very important to the improvement of CPPCC members' ability," Wang said, adding that that she has benefited a lot from conducting surveys and communications with other CPPCC members.

"Any proposals we put forward should be based investigations and studies, so that the proposals can be properly carried out," she added.

During the national two sessions in 2022, Wang submitted a proposal on solving the difficulties in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, analyzing the difficulties they may meet during the transformation. In this proposal, she also put forward her suggestions on promoting scientific and technological achievements, transformation and implementation. Wang's proposal was listed as a key proposal and was carried out by the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

"My proposals were listed as key ones, which was the greatest encouragement to me," Wang said with smile.

'Old captain' of the team

Wang was given the nickname of "old captain" by her team members. "I'm very proud of my team. Our team members are inclusive, untied and optimistic," Wang said. Her team members fully trust her because of her sense of responsibility, persistence and optimism.

Thanks to Wang's persistence, her applications for the National High-tech R&D Program (863 Program), the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the achievement transformation project and many other projects were approved. By 2010, her team and supporting funds had begun to take shape.

Wang said that there are no useless people, only people in the wrong position. She encourages every member in her team to play their roles at work. Wang totally believes in her team members and involves them in every task. In recent years, her team has been responsible for two 10-million yuan major achievements transformation projects led by young team members.

Wang said that she is an ordinary member of the CPPCC National Committee as well as an ordinary science researcher. She is nothing special, but every proposal, every patent and everything she has done speaks to how outstanding she is.