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Striations and residue found on stone tools in China reflect harvesting methods.Anew Dartmouth-led study analyzing stone tools from southern China provides the earliest evidence of rice harvesting, dating to as early as 10,000 years ago. The researchers identified two methods of harvesting rice, which helped initiate rice domestication...Wild rice is different from domesticated rice in that wild rice naturally sheds ripe seeds, shattering them to the ground when they mature, while cultivated rice seeds stay on the plants when they mature.To harvest rice, some sort of tools would have been needed. In harvesting rice with tools, early rice cultivators were...

The Yangtze No. 2 Ancient Shipwreck, the largest wooden shipwreck discovered underwater in China to date, was recently lifted out of the waters off Hengsha Island in Shanghai's Chongming district.The 150-year-old "time capsule" carries rich historical information. It marks another milestone achievement in China's underwater archaeology and provides valuable evidentiary materials for the studies of China's maritime civilization and for the mutual exchanges among civilizations in ancient times.The Yangtze No. 2 Ancient Shipwreck is one of the largest and best-preserved wooden shipwrecks discovered underwater in China and even the world at large and carrying the richest cultural relics.Based on its...

Most of the porcelain was probably made in Jingdezhen, a city in southeastern China that has been considered the country's porcelain capital for around 2,000 years and still famously uses handmade techniques to make its merchandise.Zhai Yang, vice-director of the Shanghai Cultural Heritage Conservation and Research Center, told state-run news channel CGTN: "Due to long-time seawater corrosion, this green-glazed cup appears slightly brown. However, it represents a cultural exchange between China and the world during the early days of Shanghai's opening up as a trade port."The wooden sailing ship was likely wrecked during the reign of the Tongzhi Emperor (r....

CHONGQING, China (AP) — Ships crept down the middle of the Yangtze on Friday after China’s driest summer in six decades left one of the mightiest rivers barely half its normal width and set off a scramble to contain the damage to a weak economy in a politically sensitive year. Factories in Sichuan province and the adjacent metropolis of Chongqing in the southwest were ordered to shut down after reservoirs that supply hydropower fell to half their normal levels and demand for air conditioning surged in scorching temperatures. River ferries in Chongqing that usually are packed with sightseers were empty...

China finally admits Its Three Gorges Dam has ‘deformed slightly’ but claims it happened over the weekend, ignoring reports this happened long ago. The Asian Times reported yesterday: In a rare revelation, Beijing has admitted that its 2.4-kilometer Three Gorges Dam spanning the Yangtze River in Hubei province “deformed slightly” after record flooding.The official Xinhua News Agency quoted the operator of the the world’s largest hydroelectric gravity dam as saying that some nonstructural, peripheral parts of the dam had buckled. The dam was a pet project of the late Premier Li Peng and a monumental pride of the nation...

In a rare revelation, Beijing has admitted that its 2.4-kilometer Three Gorges Dam spanning the Yangtze River in Hubei province “deformed slightly” after record flooding. The official Xinhua News Agency quoted the operator of the the world’s largest hydroelectric gravity dam as saying that some nonstructural, peripheral parts of the dam had buckled. The dam was a pet project of the late Premier Li Peng and a monumental pride of the nation when it blocked and diverted Asia’s largest river in 1997. The deformation occurred last Saturday when the flood from western provinces including Sichuan and Chongqing along the upper...

By Aug. 14, Yangtze River Basin’s monsoon season had lasted 64 days, the longest in the past 60 years, according to Chinese meteorological authorities. The fourth flood peak of the Yangtze River is expected to arrive at the Three Gorges Dam in the morning of Aug.15, as torrential rains have ravaged the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in Sichuan Province since Aug. 10. Many cities in the province are inundated. In the worst-hit area, water has risen to the second floor. So far, about 100,000 residents have been affected by flooding in 14 rivers across the province. CLICK ABOVE...

The Chinese province of Sichuan, located on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, has activated the highest level of flood control response for the first time on record on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, as rain-induced floods continue ravaging parts of the province. Meanwhile, the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei is facing the most severe floods since it was built in 2003 and the Tropical Storm "Higos" made landfall in Guangdong. The Sichuan province is experiencing a new round of rain since August 10, prompting authorities to issue an orange rainstorm warning on two consecutive days for the first time...

Months of sustained downpours have battered China with floods unseen in decades, displacing millions and testing the limits of the world’s largest hydroelectric dam.Such rainfall is far from over, according to Chinese officials who, in a rare admission, said grim challenges are ahead.July and August usually bring some of the heaviest rains in China, which swell the flood-prone Yangtze River. Yet, Zhou Xuewen, the vice minister of water resources tasked with containing floods, said the rain season will continue through September, with a “very high likelihood” of severe floodings, according to a recent State Council Information Office press conference.The...

This week cryptocurrency enthusiasts are still focused on the severe flooding in China during the 2020 monsoon season. The flooding has already displaced millions of Chinese citizens and skeptics are concerned about the vast number of bitcoin miners located in the Sichuan province. The landlocked province in Southwest China, Sichuan is located upstream of the Three Gorges Dam. During the last two months, the 2020 monsoon season ravaged the region. Reports note that by the end of June, flooding from the rainy season has displaced 744,000 Chinese residents stemming from 26 provinces. The latest reports highlight that 54 million citizens...

Three Gorges Dam was the most dangerous in 17 years.Large floods left 101 dead and 850,000 evacuated 92 views •Jan 13, 2021 1 0 Share Save News Updates 1.17K subscribers The Three Gorges Dam encountered the biggest challenge in 17 years On January 12, it was reported that prolonged heavy rains caused floods that damaged two-thirds of China's provinces, and even put pressure on the Three Gorges dam. As of January 12, the People's Daily reported 101 people were killed or missing in the new flood, while more than 850,000 people had been evacuated due to inclement weather. This heavy...

Floodwaters exceeded warning levels on May 22 across five major monitoring stations of the Yangtze River that runs from China’s west to east due to heavy rainfall in the past few days, according to state media Xinhua News Agency.The monitoring stations are mainly located in the middle and lower Xiang River section near Dongting Lake, Hunan Province, and in the Xin River section near Poyang Lake, Jiangxi Province.According to hydrological monitoring data released by the Changjiang Water Commission of China’s Ministry of Water Resources, as of 2 p.m. on May 22, the water levels at the monitoring stations of Qilishan...

Rain in some parts of central and southern China has hit record highs in recent weeks even though overall precipitation is about 10% lower this year compared with last year. Water levels on the Yangtze and its tributaries were expected to rise further over the next week, and it warned of major floods throughout the country from June to August. Some monitoring stations are issuing alerts, with the Wuhan city section of the Yangtze river in central China more than two meters higher than the normal at this time of the year as a result of heavy rain upstream. Last...

The floods in China are a global disaster You may not know it if you watch CNN or Fox News, but China is experiencing its worst flooding in over 100 years, and certainly the worst flooding it has experienced in the modern era since the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. BackgroundThe Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest Hydro-electric power station, completed along the Yangtze River basin in 2006, with additional power station construction and spillway added in 2012. The reservoir it creates is more than 410 miles long, and effectively creates the largest man-made reservoir in the history...

All three of China’s major rivers—the Yangtze, Yellow, and Huai rivers—overflowed due to heavy rains on July 21, with water levels at most regions going over alert levels.The three river basins are among the country’s most developed and active grain-producing regions. The rice-growing area of the Pearl River basin, suffered flooding in June. But the Chinese regime did not assess the total damage to the country’s crops.Also, a barrage lake was formed in Hubei Province after mudslides cut into part of the Yangtze River. If the mudslides collapse, large amounts of water could suddenly inundate areas downstream. Authorities warned...

BEIJING—Engorged with more heavy rains, China’s mighty Yangtze River is cresting again, bringing fears of further destruction, as the seasonal floods that already have left 141 people dead or missing have grown in force since last month.The heavy rains are putting renewed pressure on the massive Three Gorges Dam that straddles the river upstream of the city of Wuhan in Hubei province.The official Xinhua News Agency said the rate of flow in the reservoir behind the dam would hit a record for the year on Friday night, at 55,000 square meters (almost 600,000 square feet) per second.Rivers in the...

The Three Gorges Dam discharging floodwaters caused by continuous rainstorm in Yichang city in central China's Hubei province on July 2. Despite reassurances by the government, residents along China's rivers are increasingly worried that the mitigation capabilities of the Three Gorges Dam might fail after heavy rains lashed parts of the country. Some 141 people are already missing or dead, and nearly 38 million people have been evacuated since alerts were triggered in June about the flooding of 433 rivers nationwide, the country's flood control authorities said on Monday. President Xi Jinping is making the "greatest effort" in rescue and...

It's been a disastrous start to the wet season in southern China as rounds of flooding rain and thunderstorms continue to track across the region. Multiple deaths and a massive evacuation for hundreds of thousands of people are being blamed on the persistent deluge. Heavy flooding rainfall tracked across southern China last week and over the weekend. Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi provinces as well as Chongqing municipality were, and continue to be, some of the hardest hit provinces. The downpours turned streets into rivers and flooded buildings in parts of Chongqing on Sunday. More than 30,000 people have been affected...

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As torrential rains in China continue to wreak havoc on more than 24 provinces, notable Chinese hydrologist Wang Weiluo (王維洛) has questioned the safety of the massive Three Gorges Dam, warning that it could collapse at any moment. In southern China, regional rainstorms and mudslides that began on June 1 have uprooted more than 7,300 houses and affected nearly eight million people as of Monday morning (June 21). The immediate economic loss is estimated at 20.6 billion RMB (US$2.9 billion) by local officials. The nonstop downpours have also raised the Chinese public's concerns over the potential...

WASHINGTON: Something should have been done by previous administrations, but they ignored it. The problem of plastic in our oceans has been left to fester to unmanageable effect. Saying that over eight millions tons of garbage, plastic, is dumped into our oceans, the President says Save our Seas is an effort to clean the plastic out. No other political leader, not in the U.S. or any other country, is willing to stand up for the oceans. The Save Our Seas Act, an important bill which reauthorizes and amends the Marine Debris Act, will act to promote international action to reduce...