Huge parts of China have been affected by some of the worst drought conditions in decades. Fishermen, farmers, and wildlife have been enduring hardships for months now. In an effort to alleviate the crisis, China's Three Gorges Dam has been discharging water to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. However, since early June, a series of torrential rainstorms has been pounding southern China, overwhelming parched farmlands and triggering some of the worst flooding since 1955. So far, 175 have been reported dead and 86 missing. Chinese officials say they plan to double investments in water conservation projects, as the country deals with a shortage of 40 billion cubic meters of water each year. Gathered below are recent images from China, a nation that has been coping first with too little water, then with far too much. [38 photos]
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Farmer Lu Keshuang holds his rake as he takes a break from turning the soil in his drought-affected field near the village of Zhuanghuyu, located 80 kilometers north of Beijing, on February 23, 2011. China's long drought in northern wheat areas has been alleviated by recent heavy rains. (Reuters/David Gray)
A boat is seen stranded on the cracked bed of a dried area of Xieshan, which is part of Poyang Lake in east China's Jiangxi Province May 4, 2011. (Reuters/China Daily) #
A dead turtle lies on a dried riverbank of the Yangtze River under the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge in Jiujiang in Jiangxi Province, China, on June 2, 2011. (AP Photo/ Eugene Hoshiko) #
Water drips from a sprinkler head near residential apartment buildings in Beijing, China, on Thursday, March 24, 2011. China plans to double its investment in water conservation projects as cities face shortages. Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei says two-thirds of Chinese cities have trouble accessing water. Every year the country is short of 40 billion cubic meters of water. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) #
In this photo taken June 2, 2011, a fishing boat is left abandoned in the bottom of the dried-up Poyang Lake, a vast wetland turned dry by China's worst drought in decades, in Xingzi in Jiangxi Province, China. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) #
Villagers irrigate a wheat field with water collected from a nearby pond in drought-affected Songxian county, Henan province February 22, 2011. China's drought-hit wheat-growing areas shrank further as of Sunday as irrigation expanded, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Monday. (Reuters/Donald Chan) #
A man walks on a river shoal, which appeared after the water level of the Yangtze River declined, as the city of Wuhan is seen in the background, in Wuhan, Hubei province, on May 26, 2011. (Reuters/Stringer) #
A fishing boat lies stranded among fishing poles, which are normally almost completely underwater at this time of the year, at Honghu Lake, near Honghu city in central China's Hubei province, on May 29, 2011. (Reuters/David Gray) #
In this photo taken June 2, 2011, a bird observation platform stands in the dried-up Poyang Lake, a vast wetland turned dry by China's worst drought in decades, in Yongxiu in Jiangxi Province, China. (AP Photo/ Eugene Hoshiko) #
A girl puts on her boots near a flooded tunnel in Wuhan, Hubei province, on June 18, 2011. More than one million people in China have been evacuated following downpours that have raised water levels in rivers to critical highs, and triggered floods and landslides. Summer rains have left more than 150 people dead or missing so far, and weather authorities warned that flood-hit areas across the southern half of China would experience a fresh round of heavy rainfall. (Reuters/Darley Wong) #
People trapped by flood water wait to be rescued from the Fuxing Wood Industry Co. building on June 6, 2011, in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, China. (ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images) #
A paramilitary policeman walks on a bridge in the flood-hit Wangmo county, Guizhou province June 6, 2011. In the southwest province of Guizhou, the easing of drought swung to flooding that killed 9 people and left 13 missing in Wangmo County. Torrential rains there overwhelmed the local river and flooded the county seat and other towns, forcing 6,000 people to leave, Xinhua news agency reported. (Reuters/China Daily) #
Ducklings rest on pieces of floating debris from a house damaged by the floods in Sanjiangkou village, Zhejiang province, on June 18, 2011. (Reuters/Carlos Barria) #
A man paddles through a flooded area in Banshan Cun, Zhejiang province, on June 17, 2011. Pelting rain in parts of central and southern China has forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes and prompted the government to demand safety checks on vulnerable dams, news reports said on Thursday. (Reuters/Carlos Barria) #
A Chinese man stands at the foot of a mountain damaged by a landslide which hit Linxiang, central China's Hunan province, on June 12, 2011. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #
Residents smoke as they sit amid the debris after a landslide triggered by heavy rainfalls in Linxiang, Hunan province June 11, 2011. (Reuters/Darley Wong) #
A Chinese woman grieves during a mass funeral for victims of the floods in Linxiang, central China's Hunan province, on June 11, 2011. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #
Chinese students make their way across a flooded school compound walking along a row of chairs, in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province on June 18, 2011. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #
Chinese workers try to clear their store of floodwater along a street in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province, on June 18, 2011. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #
A woman holds her son at an evacuation center for people affected by floods in the area around Sanjiangkou village, Zhejiang province, on June 18, 2011. (Reuters/Carlos Barria) #
Vehicles piled up after they were swept away by flooding in Wangmo County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, on Monday, June 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Huang Shilin) #
People make their way down a flooded street after a rainstorm hit the town on June 15, 2011 in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province of China. (ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images) #
Chinese farmers rescue their pigs in flood waters after heavy rains hit Lanxi, east China's Zhejiang province, on June 20, 2011. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #
Fishermen prepare food on their boat on the River Brahmaputra in Gauhati, in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. According to media reports, China is considering a new plan to divert the Brahmaputra waters from its upper reaches to fight drought conditions in its northwestern territories. Worried that any diversion of the river by China could impact his state, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will meet Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna Thursday to ask him to take up the issue with the neighboring country, according to a news report. (AP Photo/ Anupam Nath) #
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