China has spent 39.7 billion yuan (about US$4.78 billion) in fortifying the embankments along the Yangtze River, the country's longest, since 1998, when major flooding on the river caused enormous losses in the Yangtze River Basin.

"As a result, the reinforced embankments, with a total length of 3,500 km (2,174 miles), are still in good shape, despite the fact that this year's flood situation is quite similar to that in 1998," said Cai Qihua, head of the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee which is based in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province.

According to Cai, the central government provided 26.9 billion yuan (about US$3.24 billion) of the total spending, while the remainder was covered by the local governments of the affected areas.

A great number of high and new technologies have been applied to fortifying the embankments, also dubbed as the "waterside Great Wall", said Cai.

The 6,300-km (3,914-mile) Yangtze runs through Qinghai, Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai, where it empties into the East China Sea.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2002)