Wetland plan promotes more biodiversity
Seen from the air, the Beas River flows through Long Valley into a triangular gully, with villages located at all three points of the triangle. High-rise blocks dominate the skyline along to the border in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and in the urban areas of Sheung Shui.
Since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Long Valley, an area of streams, wet and dry vegetable fields, ponds, grasses, scrub and small areas of woodland, has been nourished and refreshed by an elaborate irrigation system, while the annual inundation produced a wide plain, creating the perfect habitat for wildlife.
In the 1990s, the annual flood washed away farmland and became a plague to farmers in the low-lying areas of the valley. In response, Hong Kong's Drainage Services Department devised a plan to straighten and channel the Beas River to stem the seasonal deluge. The move was successful and riverbanks were built up to handle even the most severe rainstorms that come only once every 200 years.
- China's ability to forecast floods boosted by holistic monitoring network
- Shenzhen court sentences 27 for smuggling antimony ingots
- China mandates significant cut in routine tests for primary, secondary school students
- Mainland warns US against letting Taiwan separatists push confrontation
- China accuses the Philippines of 'playing the victim while being the aggressor' after it denied a knife threat to China Coast Guard officers
- Yunnan celebrates its first nature reserve on the IUCN Green List
