ANNOUNCER: Bringing you the world for 20 years, this is CNN.</s>REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Chairman Mao, who founded communist China, used to say that if man put his mind to it, he could conquer nature, that he could change nature. But what the floods of 1998 proved is that sometimes nature takes its revenge -- the worst in 44 years. Over 4,000 people ended up losing their lives. More than 14 million people were left homeless. And roughly 200 million people -- that's roughly the entire population of the United States -- were affected economically or otherwise in some way. Millions of troops from the Chinese People's Liberation Army, in addition to large numbers of civilians, were mobilized around the country to help sandbag the river dikes, to help fortify dams and to launch a massive rescue effort and temporary shelter rebuilding effort. Even six months after the flooding stopped, millions of people were still living in temporary housing. Millions of people were still relying on government handouts for food and clothing, relying also on international aid. Most people who had been dislocated by the floods did have some kind of roof back over their head again. But for a lot of people, life still isn't exactly what it used to be.
CNN 20: China's Worst Floods in 44 Years, August 9, 1998