China: Drought unearths ancient Buddhist statues

An unexpected discovery.

The current drought hitting the Yangtze River in China has unearthed a trio of Buddhist statues never before discovered due to their immersion.

One of the statues depicts a monk seated on a lotus pedestal.

The water level of Chongqing section is lower and lowers, and the rock carvings in the Yangtze River appear again.

It's said the Buddha figures were built for blessing the safety of shipping.#AmazingChina #photography #art #summer #重庆 pic.twitter.com/4LFizNTBEU

— Chongqing_ing (@CQing_CQNEWS) August 22, 2022

It was in the city of Chongqing, located in the province of Sichuan (south of the country) that the work was spotted, on the reef of an islet also discovered in the river because of this unprecedented drop in water, explains Reuters.

They date from the 17th century.

It is on the highest part of the formerly submerged islet of Foyeliang, in the middle of the river, that the statues were spotted.

The first findings estimate that these Buddhist representations date from the Ming or Qing dynasties, i.e. from the 17th century.

Rainfall in the Yangtze basin is currently 45 percent below normal, and with the heatwave that hit the country this summer, the river has dried up significantly.

In the Chongqing region, at least 66 rivers are currently dry according to a count by the Chinese authorities.

Nazi boats discovered in the Danube

China isn't the only country where drought is leading to discoveries in waterways.

Many hunger stones have reappeared in Europe, but also a dolmen in Spain, or even twenty ships belonging to the army of Nazi Germany, underlines Reuters.

VIDEO.

The "stones of hunger", these witnesses of droughts through the centuries

It was in the Danube, near the town of Prahovo (Serbia), that the hulls of these boats were discovered, while the river reached its lowest level in a century.

Loaded with explosives, these ships had been sunk and still contain a lot of explosives and ammunition, according to the news agency.