Release time: December 29, 2025 | Source: Xinhuanet/People's Daily Online
On the stage of the 2025 Beijing Rural Revitalization Talents Outstanding Entrepreneurship Project Selection and the 9th Beijing Rural Entrepreneurship Competition, Li Renhan won the award and was awarded the title of "Capital Rural Revitalization Youth Pioneer" for his groundbreaking "Star Firefly Night Flower" project. As the first innovation in the country to apply self-luminous plant technology at night, this project successfully combines the laboratory's gene editing technology with the actual needs of the countryside, opening up a new "luminous" path for rural revitalization.
Li Renhan graduated from China Agricultural University and has accumulated solid professional knowledge and research experience in the fields of plant science and gene editing. Talking about starting a business, Li Renhan said: "I grew up in a rural area. When I was lying in the bamboo forest of my grandfather's house to enjoy the coolness in the summer, fireflies often fell on me. That image has always stayed in my heart." This "scientific seed" buried deep in his heart quietly sprouted when he studied plant science and gene editing in the future. He keenly captured an unsatisfied scientific curiosity: "There are luminous animals on the earth, why are there no luminous plants?" So he decided to combine his childhood dream with cutting-edge technology to explore the infinite possibilities of plant luminescence. Founded Beijing Shenbi Dongsheng Technology Co., Ltd.
"Star Firefly Night Flower", the name itself contains a sense of poetry and technology. "'Star' means the brilliance of the night, 'Firefly' draws inspiration from fireflies, and 'Night Flower' intuitively depicts the magic of its glow at night." Dr. Li Renhan introduced that the project is committed to realizing the "whole plant luminescence" of plants. Behind this is the team's profound insight into the unmet needs of rural areas: "The most fundamental thing about rural revitalization is to increase farmers' income. 'Xingyingyehua', as a high value-added crop, can fundamentally change farmers' income structure."
The value of "Stars and Fireflies at Night" goes far beyond increasing farmers' income, it is also the "finishing touch" of rural cultural tourism. "Imagine that the night is dotted with starry 'night flowers', which will inject new vitality into the rural night tourism economy and create a different night tourism experience." This integration of technology and pastoral life also adds a fantasy color to rural B&Bs, allowing tourists to experience the simple rural life while immersed in the technology and dreamy charm brought by night-luminous plants.
At the technical level, "Star Firefly Night Flower" achieves "strong light visible to the naked eye, improving the luminous effect by an order of magnitude" and "breaking species barriers, allowing dozens of different plants to achieve luminescence." Behind this is the team’s arduous exploration in the fields of gene editing and bioluminescence. By optimizing key metabolic pathway enzyme genes, they achieved efficient catalysis and high expression, overcame the problem of stable expression of foreign genes in plant cells without being degraded, and developed a database of tens of thousands of culture media, laying a solid foundation for cultivating whole-plant luminous plants.
From the initial project idea to its actual implementation, Li Renhan and his team have experienced countless challenges and difficulties. Lack of funds and technical difficulties have become two big obstacles on their way forward. With only a PPT and the idea of "luminous plants", he visited investment institutions again and again, but repeatedly ran into obstacles. "But we did not give up. We constantly adjusted our plans and elaborated our vision, and finally impressed investors with our persistence." Today, "Xingyingyehua" has grown from a science fiction idea in the laboratory to a mature commercial product. The project has cooperated with the National Museum of Natural History on exhibitions, and has joined hands with multiple 5A-level scenic spots to jointly create a "night tour economy" and explore new applications of low-carbon energy.
Whether "Xingying Night Flower" is used in scenic spots, high-end weddings or hotels, the root of plants lies in planting, and the only way to plant it is to cooperate with rural areas and farmers. Li Renhan said: "'Xingying Night Flower' not only provides a new way for farmers to increase their income, but also brings diversified incomes such as catering and accommodation to the countryside through the night tourism economy and cultural tourism activities, so as to increase farmers' income and become rich, and comprehensively revitalize the countryside." At present, the company has in-depth exchanges with a number of local village collective cooperatives, and successful cooperation cases are being promoted and are expected to be initially revealed in the second half of 2026. It aims to empower the planting supply chain, rural cultural tourism, B&Bs and scenic spots, and promote the development of the local collective economy.
January 13, 2026
January 13, 2026
January 13, 2026