Torrential rains continue to lash large swathes of south China, causing the Yangtze River to witness its first flood of 2017; yet a 700-year-old structure along the river remains standing.

The flood passed through Wuhan city of Hubei Province on Wednesday, with the highest water level reaching 27.73 meters, 0.43 meters over the warning line, at 17:20. 

The lonely structure in the water is the Guanyin Temple, which was originally built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and then rebuilt in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).

Today, the temple  sits on a piece of dragon-shaped rock in the middle of the Yangtze River.

People watch scenery by the Yangtze River after rain. /VCG Photo

The aerial video was filmed by @Yichanjun, an ancient architecture enthusiast, was worried about the safety of the temple during the flood.

According to @Yichuanjun, the structure also survived the 1998 floods, which killed 4,000 people and inundated over 20 million hectares of fields.

Meanwhile, China's battle against the torrential rain and floods continued in a large areas on Thursday.

File photo of Guanyin Temple, standing on a rock in the middle of the Yangtze River. /Photo by @Lanhuyufu from Sina.com‍

The China Meteorological Administration on Thursday morning renewed its yellow-level alert for rain in over 10 provincial areas including Beijing, Tianjin, Hubei and Hunan. 

The yellow alert is the third-highest level of a four-tier warning system.  

As of 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, travel on more than 100 expressways heading in and out of Hunan Province was suspended, and at least 249 flights at the Beijing Capital International Airport were canceled.