Brewskie. who doubles as a China analyst has nailed this one. He found some good articles about the reality of Chinese construction, which by mismanagement and outright fraud, is scary at more often deadly…
From the Brew man
“All hail to the king!
China loves her tofu. She eats it day and night pumped with toxic carcinogens. We’re talking about her tofu projects of course.
Here’s one: http://english.people.com.cn/102774/7624320.html
“Xiayi Bridge in Zhengzhou, Central China’s Henan province: About 30 of the 80 railings are broken, putting pedestrians at risk. The bridge was a gift project for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China; it is less than 2 years old.
Fengda Bridge in Fenghuang county, Hunan province: It collapsed in 2007 during construction, killing 64 people and injuring 22. The local quality inspection department blamed the construction company for greatly compressing the building period to meet the 50th anniversary of the founding of Xiangxi autonomous prefecture.
Wuhan Baishazhou Yangtze River Bridge: Major repairs have been required almost every year since it was completed in 2000.
Hangzhou Subway Line 1: A tunnel collapsed during construction in 2008, killing 21 workers.”
The article ends with “blah blah blah” of tougher CCP actions in the war on tofu. HA! HA! HA! That’ll go like America’s multi-decade war on drugs.
More tofu: http://historysquared.com/2011/06/03/tofu-projects-in-china-cause-the-newly-built-to-crumble/
“The whims of modern architects have been indulged, with a drum-shaped concert hall that looks much like a sawn-off cooling tower, and a leaning library built to resemble a shelf of books – next to a sort of giant cowpat coated in reflective bronze, perhaps symbolising Inner Mongolia’s dairy industry.
Seen from the new expressway which leads to it, it is a majestic line of towers in the haze. But at ground level there is something severely wrong. Traffic is slowed because a huge advertising hoarding has fallen from a bridge on to the carriageway. Like so much of modern China, sparkling at a distance, grubby and cracked close to, the reality does not quite live up to the appearance.
There is far worse to come. One approach road leads past what was until recently a 30,000-seater stadium, costing £100 million and rushed to completion in nine months for last year’s Mongolian Games – horse-racing, archery and wrestling. When it was opened, it looked rather like Concorde about to take off. But soon after New Year’s Day, a whole white wing, plus the central peak, collapsed during the night.
Thank Heaven, there was nobody in it at the time. The road to the ruin is closed but it is possible to hurry by and see the colossal wreck, the tangled steel now cleared away but the missing sections not yet rebuilt.
It is not wise to look too interested, as we shall see. Officials have, of course, denied that the collapse was the result of the hurry to finish in time for the Games.
They blame welding defects and the harsh weather (which was not exactly a surprise in this blizzard-blasted part of the world).
Peking is intensely sensitive about such so-called ‘Tofu Projects’ – hurried and grandiose building schemes, which can and do kill.
In 2007 the new 360-yard Tuojiang Bridge in Hunan fell apart as workers removed its scaffolding.
These are just the ones we have heard about. Who knows how many other disasters or near-disasters have gone unrecorded?”
Eat your heart’s desire at the tofu buffet, China.
Understanding China, One Blog at a Time 