It was the summer of 1990. Affected by the El Niño phenomenon, rare and continuous heavy rainfall occurred in the Yangtze River Basin in southern my country, the Songhua River Basin and the Nenjiang River Basin in the north. Extreme floods beyond historical records suddenly hit t

Faced with the attack of the massive flood, the central government urgently mobilized and deployed more than 300,000 troops and armed police to fight floods and rescue, making it an important backbone force to win the victory of this struggle.

1998 On August 13, 1998, Jiang Zemin went to the front line of flood control and rescue in the Yangtze River in Hubei to visit, condolence, encourage the military and civilians, and guide the flood control and rescue struggle. At 10 o'clock in the morning, the scorching sun was in the sky and the heat was overwhelming. Comrade Jiang Zemin, accompanied by Wen Jiabao, then member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, and Commander-in-Chief of the National Flood Control and Drought Relief Command, Zhang Wannian , member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Zeng Qinghong, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, went straight to Jingjiang Dike . At this moment, the fifth flood peak of the Yangtze River is passing through Shashi , with the water level reaching 44.83 meters. The flow rate is the largest since the beginning of the flood season this year, at 49,500 cubic meters per second, exceeding the first four flood peaks and is advancing towards the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Standing on the Jingjiang embankment, I saw surging floods swaying the dam with turbid waves. The high water level soaked the wave-proof forest planted along the embankment in water. Jiang Zemin watched the surging flood peaks flowing past his eyes.

"Thank you for your hard work, comrades!" On the embankment, Jiang Zemin shook hands cordially with migrant workers who were nervously strengthening the embankment and the personnel who inspected the embankment and inspected the embankment in detail and inquired about the situation of inspecting and discharging the embankment in detail. Afterwards, Jiang Zemin came to Guanyin Rock, a key dangerous section of Jingjiang Dike, to observe the danger. When he learned that Guanyin Rock had been strengthened and the danger was basically controlled, Jiang Zemin felt very pleased. He encouraged the rescue commandos present to continue their efforts and persist until the final victory.

August 14, Jiang Zemin delivered an important speech in Wuhan, mobilizing the Yangtze River flood control and rescue during the decisive battle. On August 16, Jiang Zemin issued an order to the People's Liberation Army participating in flood control: all troops along the route will go to the embankment, the military and civilians will unite, defend the decisive battle, and win a complete victory. At the same time, local party and government cadres at all levels are required to lead the masses and work together with the officers and soldiers of the troops to prevent and defend the Yangtze River main dike. From July 4 to September 2, Premier Zhu Rongji visited the flood control frontlines of the Yangtze River Hesong and Nen Rivers three times to observe the flood situation and direct rescue operations. Party and state leaders such as Li Peng, Li Ruihuan, Hu Jintao, Wei Jianxing, and Li Lanqing have all visited the front line of flood fighting.

After nearly two months of hard work, it finally won the victory in the flood fighting and rescue struggle, creating a miracle that minimizes the disaster losses in the case of severe floods.

On September 28, 1998, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council grandly held a national flood control and rescue summary and commendation meeting in Great Hall of the People . In his speech, Jiang Zemin summarized the great flood fighting spirit formed in this flood fighting and rescue struggle. He pointed out: In the fight against the flood, our nation and people have demonstrated a very noble spirit. This is the great flood fighting spirit of unity, unity, not afraid of difficulties, hard work, perseverance, and daring to win. The spirit of flood fighting is a great development of patriotism, collectivism and socialist spirit, a great development of socialist spiritual civilization, a great development of the glorious traditions and fine style of our party and the army, and a concentrated reflection and new development of the national spirit of the Chinese nation in contemporary China.