Strenuous efforts to save cultural heritage in flood-hit Henan

Vehicles run on a waterlogged road in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, July 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang)

ZHENGZHOU, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- On the body of a stone statue of a mythical creature placed inside a mausoleum in Gongyi City, central China's Henan Province, a "waterline" traced by muddy yellow water is clearly visible.

The relic dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) has endured wind and rain for over a thousand years but never before did any of the storms cause such a lasting impact.

Starting from July 16, record rainstorms had inundated the province, killing more than 300 people with 50 others still missing. Multiple cities in Henan reported staggering precipitation.

The region has been long renowned for its cultural relics, and emergency works were already going on there to safeguard the beautiful cultural heritage.

Raging rainstorms had battered the provincial capital Zhengzhou for over 36 consecutive hours, affecting urban life. Traffic, electricity and telecommunication were all suspended due to the downpour.

Part of its ancient city walls dating back more than 3,600 years was mistakenly reported to be washed away by the flood in Zhengzhou. "Fortunately, it was merely the protective layer of rammed earth that had been carried away," said Ren Wei, director of the city's cultural heritage administration.

But the nearby archaeological sites were not lucky enough.

The low terrain near the sites, coupled with deep excavation pits, made the sites vulnerable to waterlogging, seriously damaging major relics including building foundations and pottery kilns, said Liu Haiwang, head of the provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology.

On July 22, an archaeological site at the Yin Ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a workshop site that used to make pottery and bone artifacts in the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.) were flooded.

"The waterlogging at the workshop site once reached 50 centimeters higher than the surrounding maize seedlings," said He Yuling, deputy chief of the Anyang station under the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Henan boasts more than 65,500 immovable cultural heritage sites, occupying nearly one-tenth of China's total, and over 23,000 of these sites are ancient architectures. Most of its cultural relics are ancient city and tomb sites -- most vulnerable during prolonged rainwash that often carries sundries in its currents.

As of July 26, more than 400 sites, cultural relic institutions and museums had been affected by the heavy rainfall in the province.

"I cannot save all the relics or guarantee that none of them would be harmed by the floods," wrote Tian Kai, director of the Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage, in a social media post. "Luckily, five World Cultural Heritage sites in the province were safe and intact; no destructive damage has been found in Henan's protected cultural relic sites and relics preserved in our museums had not sustained any damage."

Staff members drive a shovel loader to help a local resident to evacuate from Huangzhuang Village in Weihui of Xinxiang, central China's Henan Province, July 22, 2021.(Xinhua/Li Jianan)

The Zhengzhou municipal museum had just been moved to a new location before the devastating rainfall, heaviest ever in the city, compelled local authorities to activate its highest-level emergency response in the afternoon of July 20.

The water on the museum's roof soon topped the ventilation pipes and ran down the pipes into the hall, recalled Guo Chunyuan, deputy curator of the museum.

Ten pumps were rushed to the site, but they could hardly resist the crushing blow of the rainstorm. Museum staff members were tasked to relocate stone carving works on the ground floor and bronze ware on the second floor to the storage area upstairs.

The rescue mission continued until the early morning of the following day. "Carrying a colossal tripod cooking vessel in my left hand and an ancient wine vessel in the right hand on my way up the stairs evoked a strong sense of mission in me," said Fan Xueyang with the museum.

These museum workers are not alone in keeping China's past footprints safe and sound. Over 1,500 soldiers and volunteers worked concertedly to reinforce and raise the walls of the river dam as ancient city walls were flooded in Xunxian County. Meanwhile, the Longmen Grottoes site, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the city of Luoyang, had nearly 1,000 staff members and volunteers help clean up the sludge and maintain its facilities.

Rescue workers were also stationed on a bridge traversing the Sui-Tang Grand Canal, which links Beijing and Hangzhou, for a constant vigil, holding long poles to clear anything that might block the bridge's entry point.

The Chinese government and people from all walks of life pooled relief materials and collected funds to support the rescue of relics. Pumps, display cabinets and other facilities were donated to the province to help facilitate restoration works after the disaster.

The rain-ravaged Henan also sets people thinking. "Though some sites have reserved drainage channels in advance, their design can only handle precipitation a bit higher than the region's average annual rainfall. They are not capable of avoiding waterlogging in the face of surging water levels," said Ren Wei.

The Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage has vowed to initiate a feasible post-disaster repair and protection work plan on the basis of sufficient investigation and research as soon as possible.

"Cultural relics are central to the Chinese civilization, and none shall be easily discarded," said Tian.