Chen Shentao (left) and his son Chen Jian chat by an embankment threatened by floods in Xingang town.[Photo/Xinhua]

Chen Jian is a staff member of the Lianxi district's veteran affairs bureau and a member of the district's retired servicemen's flood control commando team. "When I was young, I always listened to my father's stories about fighting the floods. I didn't expect to be able to go up there with him," says Chen Jian. His father's heroic past had a great influence on him. "I still remember that he used to go to the embankment before and did not go home for a long time. My mother said that Dad was fighting the flood to keep Jiujiang."