Feng Zefang (1899.2.20-1959.9.22), an agronomist. People from Yiwu, Zhejiang. Graduated from Southeast University in 1925. Received a doctorate from Cornell University in 1933. Professor of Nanjing Agricultural College, researcher and director of the Cotton Research Institute of China Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He has conducted in-depth research on the morphology, classification and inheritance of Asian cotton, as well as the genetics and cytology of hybrids between Asian cotton and American cotton; he presided over the national regional trials of cotton varieties and the investigation and research of Yunnan kapok in China in the 1930s and 1940s; advocated planting Sizzi cotton in the Yellow River Basin cotton area and planting Dezi cotton in the Yangtze River Basin cotton area have played a positive role in improving the yield and quality of China's cotton. He was the first to engage in systematic research on cotton planting zoning and cotton industry areas in China, and put forward the idea of dividing China into five major cotton areas, which is still used by the scientific and technological community. In 1955, he was selected as an academician of China Academy of Sciences (member of the Faculty).

Feng Zefang, a famous cotton scientist and agricultural educator, is the main founder of modern cotton science in China. In his early years, he did in-depth research on the classification and inheritance of Asian cotton and the cytogenetics of Asian cotton and American cotton hybrids. He made important contributions in dividing China's cotton regions, identifying and developing denucleated kapok, advocating the promotion of "Sizi cotton", "German cotton" and cultivating cotton scientific and technological talents.

Feng Zefang, also known as Futang, was born on February 20, 1899 in a peasant family running a small traditional Chinese medicine shop in Chian Township, Yiwu County, Zhejiang Province. He studied private schools and primary schools in the countryside as a child. At the age of 14, he entered Jinhua Zhejiang Provincial No. 7 Primary and Secondary School. After graduating from middle school in 1917, he was unable to continue his studies due to his family's poverty and returned to the county to work as a teacher at the private Chounan Primary School. In 1918, he was admitted to Nanjing Normal University, which was exempted from school meals. When graduating in 1921, the school was upgraded to Southeast University. According to regulations, graduates of former agricultural majors can obtain a bachelor's degree after making up credits. Feng Zefang had to work and study, and it took four years to get her diploma in 1925. During this period, he has devoted himself to cotton scientific research and published 7 papers, of which "Chinese Cotton Morphology and Classification" is the earliest work on sorting out Asian cotton grown in my country. "The First Report on Mendelian Characteristics of Chinese Cotton" is the first report on the rediscovery of Mendelian's Law and its application to the genetic study of Chinese cotton traits.

In 1930, Feng Zefang went to Cornell University in the United States to study, and in 1932, he received a master's degree. His graduation thesis was "Introduction to Cotton Field Experiment Technology". In 1933, he received a doctorate. His thesis was "Research on Hybrid Genetics and Cytology of Asian Cotton and American Cotton", which was published in the Botanical Gazette in the United States in 1935.

In the autumn of 1933, Feng Zefang returned to China and served as a technical commissioner in the Cotton Industry Control Committee under the Nanjing National Economic Commission. In 1934, the Cotton Industry Control Committee established the Central Cotton Production Improvement Institute, and Feng Zefang served as the deputy director and head of the cotton planting department, in charge of the technical research and promotion of the whole institute. During his tenure, he presided over the national cotton variety regional test, affirmed two American cotton varieties, and actively propagated and promoted, so that the cotton yield and quality were significantly improved.

After the July 7th Incident, the Central Cotton Production Improvement Institute was abolished in 1938 and merged into the Central Agricultural Experimental Institute. Feng Zefang served as the technical director and director of the Cotton Production Department, and later also director of the Yunnan Workstation. While working in Yunnan, he affirmed the application value of local denuclear-core kapok (perennial island cotton), and collaborated with relevant departments to actively build the southwest long-staple cotton area. In 1942, Feng Zefang was appointed as professor and dean of the College of Agriculture at Central University. He taught cotton farming and an introduction to agriculture, and conducted research on the distribution of cotton areas in conjunction with his teaching work. In 1947, when Feng Zefang was appointed as deputy director of the Cotton Production Improvement Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, he actively advocated the establishment of "China Cotton Industry Press" and published three professional cotton journals: "China Cotton News","China Cotton Industry" and "China Cotton Industry Supplement" and a number of books related to cotton production. In the spring of 1949, Feng Zefang returned to teach at the School of Agriculture of Central University (the school was later renamed Nanjing Agricultural College after the reorganization of the department). He taught courses such as cotton farming, agronomy discussion and crop breeding at this institution of higher learning, and trained a large number of talents for agriculture, especially cotton. In 1956, he participated in the formulation of my country's 12-year long-term plan and actively proposed the establishment of a National Cotton Research Institute. After being approved, he personally participated in the preparatory work and became the first director of the Cotton Research Institute of China Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1957. With great enthusiasm, he gave up the superior working and living conditions of big cities and took the lead in settling down in Anyang, Henan Province, the hinterland of the cotton area, and presided over the work. He was determined to contribute his life to the improvement of my country's cotton industry.