In August 1998, during the great floods on the Yangtze, a team at the Longwangmiao sluice put up a “life-or-death sign” on the levee and shouted: Ren zai di zai! “While the people stand, the dyke stands!”
More than 300,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army and the armed police took part in the flood fight of 1998. At Jiujiang, the Yangtze dyke broke on August 7. According to China News, 24,000 soldiers and civilians fought for five days and five nights and closed the breach.