© The TelegraphThe drainage system uses the natural camber of the city to quickly channel water outwards.
A 900-year-old drainage system has saved a city in south China from severe floods that have left over one hundred people dead and a million homeless across the region.Torrential rain and flash floods have caused £1.9 billion of damage in China. Nearly forty people were killed this week alone in a series of landslides.
But the 100,000 residents of the ancient city of Ganzhou, in Jiangxi province, are safe and dry, thanks to two drains built during the Song dynasty (960-1279), which proved far more effective than modern sewer systems at coping with the downpour.
Two long tunnels, built using bricks from the city walls, cross the city and channel floodwater into two ponds that function as reservoirs. The designer of the system, Liu Yi, named the drains "Fu" or Fortune, and "Shou" or Longevity.
"The ancient residents of Ganzhou were very advanced in hydro-technology," said Wang Ronghong, head of the city's project management and maintenance office.