Chinese soldiers use washbasins to help irrigate crops in a field at Hejie village in Xuchang in China's Henan province today. The People's Liberation Army deployed more than 1,000 soldiers to help irrigate crops in Xuchang. China has declared a top-level emergency for the country's worst drought in five decades that has hit eight wheat-growing northern provinces and left more than 4 million people without proper drinking water.