His father, Zhou Hongsheng, 51, joined the dike patrol in 1998 when Wuhan was threatened by high water levels.

Under the scorching hot temperature of 40 C at the time, Zhou Hongsheng walked on the dike for more than 12 hours each day, which was so much that his feet started to fester two days later.

His grandfather Zhou Songlin, 84, a good swimmer, also played a similar role in 1954. He worked at the post for over four months, patrolling the dike and also diving into the water to check for loopholes on the dike.

At the time, grandfather Zhou Songlin was only 18 years old and was among 300,000 volunteers who joined in the fight against flooding.