The series also documents the challenges and achievements of seven other public figures-respectively, composer Chen Qigang; actress Shu Qi; actor Wang Jingchun; pop idol Kris Wu; artist Zhang Xiaogang; four-time Olympic table tennis champion Deng Yaping; and Chinese UFC champion Zhang Weili.

It explores various facets of our era through examining the lives of icons from different fields, the producers say.

Yuan was the most difficult to get to agree.

"We had spent a long time persuading Yuan," producer Lin Jingjing recalls.

"He's very busy. So, we needed to follow his schedule and adjust our script with all the unpredictable changes."

"The father of hybrid rice" has devoted his life to the research, application and popularization of hybrid-rice technology.