Revenge of the river gods

Episode number 2 of Series “The Dragon stirs”.
Part two of a four-part series about China. The Yangtze River floods of the summer of 1998 destroyed 50 million homes and devastated 21 million hectares of farmland. It was China’s worst recorded flood in at least 50 years lasting for several weeks and affecting many villages and cities. Beijing reacted by immobilizing three-quarter million soldiers into the biggest force since liberation in 1949. This is not the first time the Yangtze (known by the Chinese as the “Mother of China”) has caused havoc through flooding. However this time it would appear that not only is the unusual weather conditions to blame, but destruction of the environment over time through damming, re-routing and mismanaging of the Yangtze, forest-clearing and filling-in of natural lakes in the Yangtze River Basin and greed, dishonesty and corruption by provincial and city officials responsible for building the dams have all contributed to this unprecedented natural disaster. The program features some amazing images of the floods and includes actual footage of many of the search and rescue efforts performed by the soldiers. It also demonstrates the remarkable fortitude and commitment by both civilians and soldiers in their mighty struggle to hold back the unrelenting waters. Contains b&w archival footage. Narrated by Peter George and Diana McLean. Commentary in English with occasional dialogue in Mandarin with English subtitles.