THE UPPER REACHES OF THE YANGTZE RIVER have been flooded after days of heavy rainstorms, and many cities in the region, including Wuhan in Central China's Hubei province, are waterlogged. Gmw.cn commented on Saturday:

That severe flooding that continues to test Chinese cities highlights the need to improve urban management. The truth is, due to their flawed urban planning and the fact that it will take time to address this, many Chinese cities will continue to battle against flooding in years to come.

Indeed, the old centers of most cities are only equipped with primitive underground sewers, which hardly work in the face of heavy rainstorms, but upgrading these systems is tricky because such areas are normally home to valuable architectural heritages, which rules out the possibility of ripping up the ground to replace all the dysfunctional sewers.