A stone tablet that is nearly 1,000 years old and inscribed in different periods of history -- 200 years apart each -- has come to light in the Northeast China province of Liaoning.

The mammoth tablet, which bears some 5,000 Chinese characters, was first inscribed in the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) in commemoration of disastrous floods in Yizhou town in today's Tayingzi Town in the Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County.

Local residents built bridges and embankments to fight floods there.

The tablet was inscribed on four sides, and included the names of ancient villages, officials and civilians, but inscriptions on one side were removed and a head portrait, probably of Liu Hong, the last magistrate serving in Yizhou town in the Liao Dynasty, was carved in its place.

The tablet was first discovered and carried in a horse cart to the county government by a local farmer in the 1960s, but was almost forgotten after it was buried by officials to protect it from being damaged or stolen.

Early this month, archaeologists were finally able to retrieve the tablet close to the Global Shopping Center in the central area of the old town.

(China Daily February 4, 2004)