The Zhejiang provincial government gave out the Dayu Award to the province's localities that excelled in preserving water resources over the past year.

The annual presentation of the Dayu Award was initiated by the Zhejiang authorities in 2015, with the prize winners determined according to their performance in treating sewage, preventing flooding, draining flooded land, maintaining water supply, and saving water over the previous year.

The Dayu Award is named after Dayu, also known as Yu the Great, a legendary ancient Chinese ruler known for taming the flooding of the Yellow River around 4,000 years ago. His mausoleum is at the foot of Kuaiji Mountain in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province.

This year's gold prize winners for the Dayu Award were Huzhou, Jinhua, Quzhou, Deqing county, and Pujiang county. The silver prize was awarded to five cities and 20 county-level regions.