This Day, That Year

Item from April 8, 1996, in China Daily: Employees at an artificial rain-making center check a catalyzer before a plane takes off on a cloud-seeding mission in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, on Friday.

The center successfully produced rain in the regions of Zhangjiakou and Chengde. The highest precipitation in the 21 counties hit 11.3 millimeters, easing the drought in northern Hebei.

In the late 1950s, authorities rolled out major measures to increase precipitation by cloud seeding to lessen the impact of periodic droughts.