Catastrophic floods struck 29 provinces, autonomous regions and cities across the country in 1998, affecting 21.2 million hectares of land.

The man who saved Jiang's life was Wang Minghua and other officers of the People's Armed Police Force. Wang, now a senior sergeant at the Public Security Department of Hubei, still clearly remembers the rescue operation on that day.

"It was around 5 am, Aug 2, 1998, after our assault boat rescued more than 10 people in distress, I suddenly found something hanging on a tree. It took me and my comrades four times to finally rescue her. The last time, we seized the moment as the boat was approaching her; I bent down and held her up successfully," he remembered.

Years later, Jiang recalled another detail. In fact, the tree she held onto so tightly was actually the second one she clung to. The first tree she and her grandmother grasped had fallen in the flood.

From the moment she was rescued, a seed engraved with gratitude and tenacity took root and sprouted in Jiang's heart.