A farmer walks past the dried corn field in Bangxiang Village of Sansui County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 1, 2011. The severe drought in Guizhou left 1.816 million people in short of drinking water, affected 550,200 hectares of farm field and caused direct economic losses of 1.82 billion yuan (about 283 million U.S. dollars). [Xinhua]