My second channel: youtube.com/@madebyjohnmusic?si=60V3gMhRKAjfh0kj ►Thanks for watching, check out me other bits! ►My new EP: madebyjohn.bandcamp.com/album/retail-simulator ►Outro Song: ua-cam.com/video/LJVNt_ruEJ0/v-deo.htmlsi=KaHhrFbCex3kJBKk ►Instagram: instagram.com/plainly.john/ ►Patreon: www.patreon.com/Plainlydifficult ►Merch: plainly-difficult.creator-spring.com ►Twitter:twitter.com/Plainly_D ►Sources: www.researchgate.net/publication/366484664_A_Brief_Report_on_the_Collapse_of_Self-Built_Houses_on_29_April_2022_in_Changsha_China/fulltext/63a33dcee3ff99050d8d7804/A-Brief-Report-on-the-Collapse-of-Self-Built-Houses-on-29-April-2022-in-Changsha-China.pdf?origin=publication_detail&_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwcmV2aW91c1BhZ2UiOiJwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiJ9fQ www.researchgate.net/publication/373863851_An_analysis_approach_for_building_collapse_accident_using_system_thinking_approach_and_SEA_model/fulltext/65009971f8931a4e29bb20c0/An-analysis-approach-for-building-collapse-accident-using-system-thinking-approach-and-SEA-model.pdf?origin=publication_detail&_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwYWdlIjoicHVibGljYXRpb25Eb3dubG9hZCIsInByZXZpb3VzUGFnZSI6Il9kaXJlY3QifX0 www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202401/10/WS659df7d4a3105f21a507b82a.html
Hey I think you missed the official report of this incident (in Chinese), which include timeline, structure calculation , and the owner ignoring others warning and says: "It's nothing" just 5 minute before the collapses. → www.mem.gov.cn/gk/sgcc/tbzdsgdcbg/2023dcbg_5532/202305/W020240229381934853466.pdf
Hey I think you missed the official report of this incident (in Chinese), which include timeline, some structure calculation, reinforce attempt, and the owner ignoring others warning and says: "It's nothing" just 5 minute before the collapses. Please search this phrase and there is a pdf report: "湖南长沙“4.29”特别重大居民自建房倒塌事故调查报告" as the link comment got removed
The U.S. housing industry has joined China in bad construction; UA-cam videos abound with major structural issues in new homes being slapped together by whoever can swing a hammer. Some videos show uncompleted homes collapsing because they're done so badly.
I work in construction and inspections, inspectors, RFI's, Specs, prints and paperwork can be and is a pain in the ass but when I see videos like this, I'm glad we have all that.
@@1amazinggoddessplease for the love of all the God's. Please do some of the work yourself. I've seen architects and engineers be completely oblivious to huge errors in their designs because they think what is on paper can easily be transferred into work. Or that because it's proper on paper it instantly means it'll work in application...... Too many times I've seen people with book smarts walk onto a site with a plan only for it to not work and them sitting with their thumbs up their asses. If you knew even a bit about what entails your aspect of engineering it makes it far easier to envision, plan and initiate. Like for instance if you're studying to be an structural engineer, you should probably have done some structural work in the past. When I learned firefighting alot of the stuff that was "proper" had no real application in some scenarios and if we went by the book always it would have made it far more dangerous. Obviously you must adhere to the rules and regulations but not everything from a book will end up working or translate perfectly into real world applications.. And it's far easier to learn hands on what works and doesn't with no pressure than have a site supervisor chew you out or fire you because you did something a normal person with real world experience wouldn't do. Finish your studying and do 6 months of the building aspect and I promise you'll do leagues better than most who don't do that... (And from what I've seen in construction, not alot do that)
Just wish inspectors actually did their jobs. I had one who didn't even get out of his car for a roof inspection. It's rare but I did have one that did a good job that saved the project.
20 year commercial union carpenter, retired to become a building engineer. In the US I've seen some crazy stuff but this is really scary. Even when all of the proper channels are used, architects, engineer and even superintendents and inspectors get it wrong, miss stuff. I've had many meetings with people far more educated than me where I had to prove them wrong.
The big arrow pointing to the building saying "Shit" is one of the funniest visual gags you've done simply because it's so direct and contrasts with the gentle wording you use to speak about it with
If John is going to start delving into Tofu Dreg, this channel is never going to run out of material. Edit: And the bingo card is going to be pretty full a lot of the time.
@@HFFCANADA Cheap Chinese building "standards". Their "concrete" as weak as tofu, hence, "tofu dregs" There is an old Chinese proverb "If you can cheat, cheat"
@@HFFCANADA Chinese term for cheap leftovers. Usually used when describing construction that is made to look good from the outside, but is in fact broken from the beginning. Some of the more common examples are when people hit a supposedly solid concrete wall and discover it is just a thin layer of concrete and plaster over bundled trash such as old newspapers. It's not uncommon to see the facade of a building fall off. Usually because the builder used adhesive instead of bolts in several places, and the bolts they did use were cheap pot metal, not the hardened rust resistant steel they were supposed to be.
@@HFFCANADA It's pretty terrifying. The concrete used in these buildings is so cheap, it literally crumbles like tofu. There are many instances of it dissolving when it rains. But the government won't allow anyone to talk about it, because it's an embarrassment on the nation. So you have all these people suffering, that no one knows about. This is what happens when you have a government who gets rid of regulation and looks the other way with the few regulations they DO have.
It reminds me of one of the deadliest disasters in Thailand, the Royal Plaza Hotel collapse, Nakhon Ratchasima, 1993, killing 137. Quite a similar story of negligence during the extension building, really.
Yup, except in China this happens all the time and it’s not just poorly built apartments but also poorly built roads, bridges, sewage/drainage systems, trains and even nuclear submarines and spacefaring rockets. You name it, they’ll cut corners on it. If there can be corruption, there will be corruption. God knows how many people have died in the past ten years as a result of corruption and carelessness in Chinese construction companies and health and safety departments.
Unfortunately this is a tremendous problem, and affects more than ninety percent of new construction since the early 1990s. Corruption is absolutely rife in the construction industry in China, and buildings are often made with concrete which has little to no proper aggregate or no reinforcement. Rarely is anything built right, and when this is the case it is almost always the result of strict government supervision or foreign-led efforts in a tier-one city like Shanghai, such as the factories of large foreign businesses or skyscrapers such as the Shanghai World Financial Center which is partly Japanese owned.
@@chipsnpeasifuplz Here's the wonder of totalitarianism. "We won't pay the mortgage because the building doesn't exist" "Continue paying or be disappeared"
I have a construction background, I have traveled in mainland China and I have been in Changsha and that area of Hunan. The building standards there are not as strict as say the Pearl River Delta cities, in general. I am only surprised that this kind of thing doesn't happen more often.
it does, china covers it up as much as they can. if you want to see how bad it can really be for many things in China check out these guys ( China Fact Chasers ) both lived in China for over ten years married Chinese women and started families, both families had to flee china. Telling the truth was their crime.
I, too, have been to Changsha. A couple of times. And neither time has any building dropped out from under me. Never worried about any of the structures in any of the numerous Chinese cities I've been in.
On another tofu dregs collapse, I heard an awful story where this dude came to visit his elderly grandmother whose apartment was being renovated. The Chinese construction crew ignored every safety measure, they were about to install a vent by simply going right through a load bearing wall. The guy gave them an earful and told them it was illegal, but he had to leave for his own home eventually. Sure enough, the moment he left they went right ahead and put the vent through the load bearing wall. The guy got his grandma out of there asap. They just don't care over there. They do not care. If they can get away with using shoddy materials/labor and pocketing the difference, they will.
Similar examples in the US, like that condo collapse in Florida. Iirc, the cause was even similar, the owners adding floors and not caring about the condition of the building. There's a whole genre too of building inspectors on social media making fun of really bad constructions in the US. Let's call them Burger dregs
What about the building collapse in Miami, or the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse in Kansas City? Or the Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans? Touch you own noses first. I could mention many more
In the early 1990s, before it got demolished, I visited a small part of Hong Kong's "walled city" Illegally built highrise buildings, no planning, no organisation, added more floors just as they saw fit, and airplanes flying over at less than 300 feet above the building, or passing one side of it at short distance while landing at the old airport... This building looked really well planned and proper, in comparison.
I'm from China. It's unfortunate that corruption is endemic, everybody does it. It's really the way things work. You want a permit, you have to know the right person, give some "gift", or else things will take forever or never. People knows and everyone goes with this as part of daily lives. But it becomes outrageous when corruptions results in many lives to be lost, where line is drawn. The government then serves up the lowest official that can plausibly shoulder all the blame to the public. Then everyone goes back doing the same thing after the outrage subsides.
The unhappy coincidence of two Chinese attitudes to rules: Rules only matter if you are caught breaking them Rules only matter if you can't pay the right people to ignore you breaking them
We can safely assume the local CCP council is capable of enforcing rules on every built object. The 'oversight' here has likely been given a green light by a well-compensated council member.
Plus the general attitude of „If you can get away with cheating, then cheat as hard as you can“. Case in point: Friend of mine ordered some specialty cables from China. The spec was a pretty heavy gauge of stranded copper. The cables that were delivered looked great, and they actually were well made (credit where it’s due). But upon examination it turned out that the inside was stranded CCA (copper clad aluminium, which is a LOT cheaper). So definitely not the right material and not what the order and the invoice said. A few strongly worded mails later, the gist of what the manufacturer said was „sorry, we didn’t think you actually wanted real copper“. Which is fair, and would have been OK - but they billed him for pure copper and delivered CCA because „stupid foreigners won’t ever notice“, apparently.
>> Rules only matter if you are caught breaking them Like in looney tunes cartoons, where gravity kicks in only after having noticed that is no ground to walk on.
Me sitting here: John: *they added a floor* Me: "WHAT!?" John: "they added ANOTHER floor* Me: "WAIT A DAMN MINUTE!" The fact that they were even allowed to do this is quite alarming smh
technically, they shouldn't have been! But the mainland Chinese culture doesn't care about the point of rules, only what can be made by enforcing them...or selectively not doing so.
This is why the phrase _tofu dreg project_ (豆腐渣工程 in Chinese) is so commonly used in China. In fact, if we have another major earthquake in China the death toll could be (sadly) horrendous again because so many tall buildings aren't up to building codes.
Former Premier, Zhu Rongji, coined the term when describing levees built on the Yangtze River in the late 90s. When a lifelong member of the CCP since 1949 is insulting Chinese construction quality you know shit's in the gutter pretty badly.
@@samsonsoturian6013 not only that. But after the economic reforms of 1978, economic growth was so great that buildings were built at a pace that simply can't guarantee they were well built. Add a lot of government and regulatory corruption...
I'd add "Risks ignored" onto that bingo card, because the building was "Inspected" but it wasn't really inspected, and they were warned multiple times about unsafe practices, but that's me.
I think one of my favorite things about your videos is the amount of detail you put into your cutout animations. Of course there's someone driving an auto-rickshaw down the road!
We lived in Shanghai from 2012-1016, in super-expensive "luxury" high-rise overlooking the entrance to Century Park (Shanghai's Central Park). We had 2 huge screened in sunroom/balconies, expensive marble and tile features, 3 bedrooms and two full baths... the place was made for expats; expensive on the surface. But that ten year old building looked 40 years old. There were splits along the outside of the building, running from the foundation in spots, cracks in our walls and ceilings... and thousands more just like it in every Chinese city we visited.
I can't help but think that a few notable parallels exist between this collapse and Sampoong (Seoul, South Korea, 1995)--the additional floors (in Sampoong's case, a restaurant was placed on top of the pre-existing four floors), the resulting overload, the greed, and the failure of local officials to enforce building codes. You could argue that Sampoong's collapse had its share of D-I-Y work, too--Sampoong head Lee Joon, ignorant of the dangers his design changes presented, fired anyone who disagreed with him, and he simply started up a construction company that would do the ill-advised work.
Wasn’t it kind of like the Hotel New World in Singapore? The building was designed incorrectly from the beginning with an untrained draftsman rather than a professional engineer and costs were cut during construction Only difference was that in Singapore, the government updated building regulations and checked existing buildings (as well as demolished certain ones)
It's very disappointing when things like this happen. There were so many stages along the way where somebody could have said something to try and reconsider this building. People will make excuses to cover up for shortcomings in China's building processes, but that doesn't fix the underlying issue that there's a lot of corruption that's placing lives in danger. And until politicians do something about it, it's just going to continue happening.
I so look forward to your videos. I really like your format and personality. Thanks for your efforts! Greetings from a mild sunny day just northwest of Canada’s capital, Ottawa.😉
They call it "tofu dreg construction" in China. Calling it "DIY Construction" makes it seem like people are just making additions ti their homes but theres entire companies over there building highrise buildings with aubpar materials. Theres plenty of videos of the buildings falling apart in as little as a light breeze.
Doesn’t surprise me. I was there 2012 and there was construction EVERYWHERE. We stayed in a fairly new, really pretty hotel - and it was clear the workmanship was shoddy. They put up buildings quickly but they don’t last.
Alec Steele from UA-cam said something really wise that I think about from time to time: “Buy once, cry once.” Quality really does pay for itself (if you can afford it at the time).
This is a broader problem world wide as developers look to cut corners. A problem in Canada is developers being forced to "build affordable rentals" in every project, so those "rental" units become 300sq ft death traps made of combustible materials, shallow foundations, and no parking spots (due to the removal of foundation space.) I've walked through a neighborhood in Vancouver and have seen patio's in MDU's converted into bedrooms. It's only a matter of time before we start seeing stories like this happening in "our backyards". The building inspectors and the city might not be aware of these modifications going on, but I've also watched a series of YT videos where someone buys basically a "tear down" and a lot of the DIY construction I just shake my head at because of the weather-inappropriateness of some of their new choices. The City absolutely approved all of this, and a lot of their complaints in the video is the city just taking forever. I imagine the situation in China tends to always lead with "Corruption at all levels" but also a lot of these problems seem to originate in Chinese culture, where "pay someone to make the problem go away" just results in a lot of pushing responsibility to someone else being paid less than the previous guy until it comes to someone who just "solves" the problem with bribes.
Def also a problem in some US cities you might not otherwise have expected if from (a more expected city being NYC for example) where demand for less expensive housing is high for a long time now, but no one wants to be stuck with the bill to make it happen. Pay any attention to the local news and you end up hearing about some fire trapping tenants in a building illegally converted to additional units in places like DC or SF. Sometimes they were even on code enforcement/housing regulators' radar and yet nothing was done.
John, I love you. It's your bingo card only has four rows now. It's someone who is not an expert in bingo but has done at a time or two. I feel like maybe you're missing one.
It's kind of impressive to get the level of dreg just right so that it suffered a catastrophic failure only AFTER it was fully occupied. And with minimal space between it and two adjacent buildings! Usually someone would either notice components separating in a disturbing manner, or the shift would be lateral and stop (at least temporarily) when it hit something else. Reminds me of a common problem in US cities in connection with digging out basements to add a foot or two of headroom.
Hey John, don't know if you'll see this but i liked the song (Second Sun) you've used and produced for this video, it reminds me of Boards of Canada's works.
Illegal rooftop additions are common in older buildings in Taiwan as well. Though I think they've addressed it more aggressively and sooner. Especially since a poorly built residential complex collapsed after an earthquake.
A few years ago I stayed with a friend in Athens. She lived in an illegal apartment built on the roof of a 5 storey complex. All concrete, apparently they’ve a lot of illegal structures there. Don’t know how safe they are though in an earthquake zone
As a civil engineer in VA, even re-striping a lot takes months of submissions and approvals. I feel so bad for the people living there….every ounce of this was avoidable.
Ive been building houses for 13 years and im not proud of our work anymore. Always pushed to cut corners to finish faster. Safety only matters when money isnt involved
I think the great leap forward is responsible for this tbh. The attitude of quantity over quality can be found in almost every corner of chinese manufacturing. Automotive, construction, food, furniture, etc etc etc. How well something is made doesnt matter, what does matter is how many you make and how quickly you do it.
I stayed in a 60rmb hotel and they had a giant 2m high poster of Mao. Who knows if there were cracks behind it. This construction is wonderful though, I love how much space there is in the city, restaurants, shops, hotels, everything within walking distance on a shoestring budget. Just don't cut corners too much. The alternative is USA or California with everything so unaffordable, you can't afford to stay in a hotel or have any living space.
It would be nice to have solid safety guidelines but also nice for people to be able to expand their living space and have as many rooms in their house as they want, and generally emerge from poverty. There's a lot of people in poverty in America who barely hang on even though they work all the time. That's not right. They should be drinking tea relaxing enjoying life.
@@Stormer-vx5kw I haven't lived in other places than Toronto and New York, but I think most places life is hard, correct me if I'm wrong. I came to live in China 10 years ago and I love the $100 rentals and that ordinary people can put up multistory houses on their property.
New homes are unaffordable in every corner of the U.S . the land parcels alone are inflated by real estate developers. BUILDING your own home isn't practical anymore like it once was. ALL the required permits fees taxes financing price of lot building materials labor are burdensome
@@markr.devereux3385 exactly, which is why a developing country offers more freedom to do pretty much anything. In the towns and villages I've been in, the understanding is that it's up to the people to act morally and not hurt each other. Each town is different but it depends on their historical roots, the families knowing each other for generations, tied by a common religion, family lines, concept of honor, etc. Without cohesion it helps to have legislation, but cohesion and freedom is better than totalitarian legislation, something that they're going for now. fazhi shehui.
8:40 No, in this case it's definitely deliberate. Many Chinese construction companies blatantly and intentionally ignore safety rules because they know they're not enforced.
My second channel: youtube.com/@madebyjohnmusic?si=60V3gMhRKAjfh0kj
►Thanks for watching, check out me other bits!
►My new EP: madebyjohn.bandcamp.com/album/retail-simulator
►Outro Song: ua-cam.com/video/LJVNt_ruEJ0/v-deo.htmlsi=KaHhrFbCex3kJBKk
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►Sources:
www.researchgate.net/publication/366484664_A_Brief_Report_on_the_Collapse_of_Self-Built_Houses_on_29_April_2022_in_Changsha_China/fulltext/63a33dcee3ff99050d8d7804/A-Brief-Report-on-the-Collapse-of-Self-Built-Houses-on-29-April-2022-in-Changsha-China.pdf?origin=publication_detail&_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwcmV2aW91c1BhZ2UiOiJwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiJ9fQ
www.researchgate.net/publication/373863851_An_analysis_approach_for_building_collapse_accident_using_system_thinking_approach_and_SEA_model/fulltext/65009971f8931a4e29bb20c0/An-analysis-approach-for-building-collapse-accident-using-system-thinking-approach-and-SEA-model.pdf?origin=publication_detail&_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwYWdlIjoicHVibGljYXRpb25Eb3dubG9hZCIsInByZXZpb3VzUGFnZSI6Il9kaXJlY3QifX0
www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202401/10/WS659df7d4a3105f21a507b82a.html
you missed on the bingo card risks ignored since they ignored all the rules for safety or most of them at least
In China it's only illegal once it falls down and only if you're not a party member.
Hey I think you missed the official report of this incident (in Chinese), which include timeline, structure calculation , and the owner ignoring others warning and says: "It's nothing" just 5 minute before the collapses. → www.mem.gov.cn/gk/sgcc/tbzdsgdcbg/2023dcbg_5532/202305/W020240229381934853466.pdf
Hey I think you missed the official report of this incident (in Chinese), which include timeline, some structure calculation, reinforce attempt, and the owner ignoring others warning and says: "It's nothing" just 5 minute before the collapses. Please search this phrase and there is a pdf report: "湖南长沙“4.29”特别重大居民自建房倒塌事故调查报告" as the link comment got removed
That's what you get when use noodles to make concrete
"...but it's not in the way you might think ... it is from the lack of qualified and quality building work" It's exactly what I thought.
The U.S. housing industry has joined China in bad construction; UA-cam videos abound with major structural issues in new homes being slapped together by whoever can swing a hammer. Some videos show uncompleted homes collapsing because they're done so badly.
Can you link a couple of those vids. Cheers.
@@markh.6687type have no idea what you’re talking about. America has enforced standards. China has none.
Not when you have companies cutting corners. I’ve seen it in the US, and it’s because you have too many subcontractors.
@@Halofan830 ya well, visit US and u may chenge ur mind ..
I work in construction and inspections, inspectors, RFI's, Specs, prints and paperwork can be and is a pain in the ass but when I see videos like this, I'm glad we have all that.
I’m studying to become an architect, and videos like these remind me of the importance of rigorous planning, inspections, and proper procedure.
@@1amazinggoddessplease for the love of all the God's. Please do some of the work yourself. I've seen architects and engineers be completely oblivious to huge errors in their designs because they think what is on paper can easily be transferred into work. Or that because it's proper on paper it instantly means it'll work in application...... Too many times I've seen people with book smarts walk onto a site with a plan only for it to not work and them sitting with their thumbs up their asses.
If you knew even a bit about what entails your aspect of engineering it makes it far easier to envision, plan and initiate. Like for instance if you're studying to be an structural engineer, you should probably have done some structural work in the past.
When I learned firefighting alot of the stuff that was "proper" had no real application in some scenarios and if we went by the book always it would have made it far more dangerous. Obviously you must adhere to the rules and regulations but not everything from a book will end up working or translate perfectly into real world applications.. And it's far easier to learn hands on what works and doesn't with no pressure than have a site supervisor chew you out or fire you because you did something a normal person with real world experience wouldn't do. Finish your studying and do 6 months of the building aspect and I promise you'll do leagues better than most who don't do that... (And from what I've seen in construction, not alot do that)
Just wish inspectors actually did their jobs. I had one who didn't even get out of his car for a roof inspection. It's rare but I did have one that did a good job that saved the project.
20 year commercial union carpenter, retired to become a building engineer. In the US I've seen some crazy stuff but this is really scary. Even when all of the proper channels are used, architects, engineer and even superintendents and inspectors get it wrong, miss stuff. I've had many meetings with people far more educated than me where I had to prove them wrong.
regulations are un-American.
The big arrow pointing to the building saying "Shit" is one of the funniest visual gags you've done simply because it's so direct and contrasts with the gentle wording you use to speak about it with
If John is going to start delving into Tofu Dreg, this channel is never going to run out of material.
Edit: And the bingo card is going to be pretty full a lot of the time.
Tofu dreg? What is that
@@HFFCANADAthe result of Chinese buildings being built with poor concrete and the government looking the other way.
@@HFFCANADA Cheap Chinese building "standards".
Their "concrete" as weak as tofu, hence, "tofu dregs"
There is an old Chinese proverb "If you can cheat, cheat"
@@HFFCANADA Chinese term for cheap leftovers. Usually used when describing construction that is made to look good from the outside, but is in fact broken from the beginning.
Some of the more common examples are when people hit a supposedly solid concrete wall and discover it is just a thin layer of concrete and plaster over bundled trash such as old newspapers. It's not uncommon to see the facade of a building fall off. Usually because the builder used adhesive instead of bolts in several places, and the bolts they did use were cheap pot metal, not the hardened rust resistant steel they were supposed to be.
@@HFFCANADA It's pretty terrifying. The concrete used in these buildings is so cheap, it literally crumbles like tofu. There are many instances of it dissolving when it rains. But the government won't allow anyone to talk about it, because it's an embarrassment on the nation. So you have all these people suffering, that no one knows about. This is what happens when you have a government who gets rid of regulation and looks the other way with the few regulations they DO have.
It reminds me of one of the deadliest disasters in Thailand, the Royal Plaza Hotel collapse, Nakhon Ratchasima, 1993, killing 137. Quite a similar story of negligence during the extension building, really.
Yup, except in China this happens all the time and it’s not just poorly built apartments but also poorly built roads, bridges, sewage/drainage systems, trains and even nuclear submarines and spacefaring rockets. You name it, they’ll cut corners on it. If there can be corruption, there will be corruption. God knows how many people have died in the past ten years as a result of corruption and carelessness in Chinese construction companies and health and safety departments.
I think this channel did a video on that disaster as well.
South China mall.
Similar to Sampoong department store
Was that the one where everyone was packed in an upper level dancing?
Unfortunately this is a tremendous problem, and affects more than ninety percent of new construction since the early 1990s. Corruption is absolutely rife in the construction industry in China, and buildings are often made with concrete which has little to no proper aggregate or no reinforcement. Rarely is anything built right, and when this is the case it is almost always the result of strict government supervision or foreign-led efforts in a tier-one city like Shanghai, such as the factories of large foreign businesses or skyscrapers such as the Shanghai World Financial Center which is partly Japanese owned.
Isnt this affecting mortgages due to refusal of paying ? Refusing to pay because the properties not being liveable or not there anymore lol
@@chipsnpeasifuplz Here's the wonder of totalitarianism.
"We won't pay the mortgage because the building doesn't exist"
"Continue paying or be disappeared"
@@chipsnpeasifuplz some are refusing to pay because the buildings weren't even constructed
Since their economy is so dependent on new construction, I start to wonder if tofu dregs construction is just built-in obsolescence.
Built-in obsolescence since their economy is based heavily on new construction?
I have a construction background, I have traveled in mainland China and I have been in Changsha and that area of Hunan. The building standards there are not as strict as say the Pearl River Delta cities, in general. I am only surprised that this kind of thing doesn't happen more often.
it does, china covers it up as much as they can. if you want to see how bad it can really be for many things in China check out these guys ( China Fact Chasers ) both lived in China for over ten years married Chinese women and started families, both families had to flee china. Telling the truth was their crime.
it does, it never gets out. CCP sees to it.
Scan other channels and you'll see more.
It's not just buildings, it happens everyday to bridges and road infrastructure.
I, too, have been to Changsha. A couple of times. And neither time has any building dropped out from under me. Never worried about any of the structures in any of the numerous Chinese cities I've been in.
We are talking about China here, the country where building codes can at best be described as "suggestions".
Very true
On another tofu dregs collapse, I heard an awful story where this dude came to visit his elderly grandmother whose apartment was being renovated. The Chinese construction crew ignored every safety measure, they were about to install a vent by simply going right through a load bearing wall. The guy gave them an earful and told them it was illegal, but he had to leave for his own home eventually. Sure enough, the moment he left they went right ahead and put the vent through the load bearing wall. The guy got his grandma out of there asap.
They just don't care over there. They do not care. If they can get away with using shoddy materials/labor and pocketing the difference, they will.
Building codes are a method of collecting bribes
Similar examples in the US, like that condo collapse in Florida. Iirc, the cause was even similar, the owners adding floors and not caring about the condition of the building.
There's a whole genre too of building inspectors on social media making fun of really bad constructions in the US. Let's call them Burger dregs
What about the building collapse in Miami, or the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse in Kansas City? Or the Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans? Touch you own noses first. I could mention many more
In the early 1990s, before it got demolished, I visited a small part of Hong Kong's "walled city"
Illegally built highrise buildings, no planning, no organisation, added more floors just as they saw fit, and airplanes flying over at less than 300 feet above the building, or passing one side of it at short distance while landing at the old airport...
This building looked really well planned and proper, in comparison.
Pretty sure it was called Kowloon.
@@BeersAndBeatsPDX kowloon walled city yis
Fun fact: the movie Bloodsport was filmed there. 😊
That brick laying clip at the end was painful to watch 😭
Also, that colonoscopy at the end!
To be fair with Chinese TofuDreg construction, 10 years old IS an old building.
Positively ancient!
Wow. Guess my 150 year old house is prehistoric!
@@RedTail1-1 Pretty sure he means that when they're built in such a horrific way, 10 years is actually quite a long while
@@RedTail1-1 150 years predates the communist takeover. Tofu dreg is almost entirely a communist problem and not a Chinese problem.
Surprised it lasted 10 years.
I've been following your channel for many years and it just gets better and better. Congratulations on 1 million subs, you earned it!!🎉
I'm from China. It's unfortunate that corruption is endemic, everybody does it. It's really the way things work. You want a permit, you have to know the right person, give some "gift", or else things will take forever or never. People knows and everyone goes with this as part of daily lives. But it becomes outrageous when corruptions results in many lives to be lost, where line is drawn. The government then serves up the lowest official that can plausibly shoulder all the blame to the public. Then everyone goes back doing the same thing after the outrage subsides.
What do the characters in the caption bubbles translate to?
I'm from China. corruption everywhere true . but not everyone - only immoral ass holes (which it turns out is most of us) .
Sadly corruption seeps into all bureaucratic systems everywhere and everyday people are always the ones paying the price for it.
@@TheUltimateScotshut up
Yeah, we know how it works there.
The unhappy coincidence of two Chinese attitudes to rules:
Rules only matter if you are caught breaking them
Rules only matter if you can't pay the right people to ignore you breaking them
We can safely assume the local CCP council is capable of enforcing rules on every built object. The 'oversight' here has likely been given a green light by a well-compensated council member.
Plus the general attitude of „If you can get away with cheating, then cheat as hard as you can“.
Case in point:
Friend of mine ordered some specialty cables from China. The spec was a pretty heavy gauge of stranded copper. The cables that were delivered looked great, and they actually were well made (credit where it’s due). But upon examination it turned out that the inside was stranded CCA (copper clad aluminium, which is a LOT cheaper). So definitely not the right material and not what the order and the invoice said. A few strongly worded mails later, the gist of what the manufacturer said was „sorry, we didn’t think you actually wanted real copper“.
Which is fair, and would have been OK - but they billed him for pure copper and delivered CCA because „stupid foreigners won’t ever notice“, apparently.
>> Rules only matter if you are caught breaking them
Like in looney tunes cartoons, where gravity kicks in only
after having noticed that is no ground to walk on.
"Galvanized square steel," they said, "just borrow the screws from your auntie," they said...
Me sitting here:
John: *they added a floor*
Me: "WHAT!?"
John: "they added ANOTHER floor*
Me: "WAIT A DAMN MINUTE!"
The fact that they were even allowed to do this is quite alarming smh
technically, they shouldn't have been! But the mainland Chinese culture doesn't care about the point of rules, only what can be made by enforcing them...or selectively not doing so.
Thanks for the upload John. Always enjoy your videos.
Thank you
Yikes "Regulations? What regulations?" This is what a world without building regulations would look like.
This is why the phrase _tofu dreg project_ (豆腐渣工程 in Chinese) is so commonly used in China. In fact, if we have another major earthquake in China the death toll could be (sadly) horrendous again because so many tall buildings aren't up to building codes.
Former Premier, Zhu Rongji, coined the term when describing levees built on the Yangtze River in the late 90s. When a lifelong member of the CCP since 1949 is insulting Chinese construction quality you know shit's in the gutter pretty badly.
Tofu Dreg Building is a feature among almost all buildings constructed in China post-1990
Ten years isn't a bad run for these! Some of the roadways and bridges that let go are very terrifying
Still is
It started in the Mao era when factory managers started competing to get production numbers up but didn't care if people actually used stuff
@@samsonsoturian6013 not only that. But after the economic reforms of 1978, economic growth was so great that buildings were built at a pace that simply can't guarantee they were well built. Add a lot of government and regulatory corruption...
Ah so Beijing and a hundred other Chinese cities will just crumble into dust any minute now?
Can you stop being silly
John in voice over: Polite, soft, gentle
John's note on screen: BIG ARROW AND THE WORD SHIT POINTING TO BUILDING
Yours is my favourite disaster channel, and one of my favourite channels overall. A great mix of humour balanced with respect, and very informative.
I'd add "Risks ignored" onto that bingo card, because the building was "Inspected" but it wasn't really inspected, and they were warned multiple times about unsafe practices, but that's me.
I think one of my favorite things about your videos is the amount of detail you put into your cutout animations. Of course there's someone driving an auto-rickshaw down the road!
Ah, what a wonderful morning. Pancakes, tea, and plainly difficult recounting some of the most notable manmade disasters of all time ☕️
I do prefer proper pancakes to pancaked buildings though...
@koma-k omg that killed me 🤣🤣🤣
You need a square on your bingo card that just says "China".
Indeed 😂
You commenting on the weather adds such a cute and unique touch
Thank you!
We lived in Shanghai from 2012-1016, in super-expensive "luxury" high-rise overlooking the entrance to Century Park (Shanghai's Central Park). We had 2 huge screened in sunroom/balconies, expensive marble and tile features, 3 bedrooms and two full baths... the place was made for expats; expensive on the surface.
But that ten year old building looked 40 years old. There were splits along the outside of the building, running from the foundation in spots, cracks in our walls and ceilings... and thousands more just like it in every Chinese city we visited.
The Wang Chung district? That's a GREAT band. "Everybody have fun tonight. Everybody Wang Chung tonight!"
TofuDreg is an entire entertainment niche for me.
Me too man, me too. 😊
this isn't really tofu dreg, it was a botch job by the landowner. Tofu dreg usually applies to new/gov development made with substandard materials.
It's amazing a building made it to a point where people could live in it. This was from before the CCP's "great real estate boom leap forward" maybe?
I can't help but think that a few notable parallels exist between this collapse and Sampoong (Seoul, South Korea, 1995)--the additional floors (in Sampoong's case, a restaurant was placed on top of the pre-existing four floors), the resulting overload, the greed, and the failure of local officials to enforce building codes. You could argue that Sampoong's collapse had its share of D-I-Y work, too--Sampoong head Lee Joon, ignorant of the dangers his design changes presented, fired anyone who disagreed with him, and he simply started up a construction company that would do the ill-advised work.
Wasn’t it kind of like the Hotel New World in Singapore?
The building was designed incorrectly from the beginning with an untrained draftsman rather than a professional engineer and costs were cut during construction
Only difference was that in Singapore, the government updated building regulations and checked existing buildings (as well as demolished certain ones)
@@darthdooku6246 Great catch! I totally forgot about that one. Thanks!
DAM MONGORIANS WRECK MY CITY WALL
I like how you wrote 'Mongolians' the way he says it but not 'city'...
You “SHITTY MONGOLIANS” wreck my “TOWER BLOC”!!!!!!!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@RedTail1-1 YT censorship algos wouldn't allow it.
@@RedTail1-1sometime, learning "Engrish" can be much harder than learning Chinese or English.
So, about that bridge.. What's the current price?
How much you want to spend?
@@PlainlyDifficult I'll take it. how about minus $25k? yes, I'll take it if you pay me.
Even if this building was build professionally, it'd've collapsed in 10 years regardless because of the nonexistent quality of materials.
Very likely
Well, I believe they use only the highest quality chewing gum and cardboard. So there's that.
Yay!!! Mr. Music is back!
It’s amazing how many of these collapses have “it rained a lot” as a root cause. Not, like, landslides or hurricanes, just wet dirt.
4:28 who thought they heard "Jenga Engineering"
I thought Wow how appropriate
They took out the wrong block!
Appreciate all you do John
Little John’s apartment after installing the eco friendly wood veneers
Use silicone oil on hinges of doors jphn, works better and doesn't evaporate 😁👍
It works wonders on my bike chain... and my sewing machine!
It's very disappointing when things like this happen. There were so many stages along the way where somebody could have said something to try and reconsider this building. People will make excuses to cover up for shortcomings in China's building processes, but that doesn't fix the underlying issue that there's a lot of corruption that's placing lives in danger. And until politicians do something about it, it's just going to continue happening.
You could create an entire channel on China's tofu dregs projects. Just the infrastructure fails would give you hundreds of hours of content.
The greed of capitalism.
Always seems to come up in countries that are not capitalist.
No, just plain greed.
I so look forward to your videos. I really like your format and personality. Thanks for your efforts! Greetings from a mild sunny day just northwest of Canada’s capital, Ottawa.😉
Wow I’ve never been this early, thank you for another great upload!
2:00 I wonder if John is on our highly employable Safety Director's Christmas card list.
Thanks for the videos John! Keep up the great work!
Thank you!!
They call it "tofu dreg construction" in China. Calling it "DIY Construction" makes it seem like people are just making additions ti their homes but theres entire companies over there building highrise buildings with aubpar materials. Theres plenty of videos of the buildings falling apart in as little as a light breeze.
1:28 - I did not click on this video to see John's indecent flashing.
But it could've been much worse.
Thanks for keeping your clothes on 😂
Oh, I'm early! And it looks like it's about tofu dreg, this is going to be interesting~
Their old buildings can, unlike the newer ones, take an earthquake.
Doesn’t surprise me. I was there 2012 and there was construction EVERYWHERE. We stayed in a fairly new, really pretty hotel - and it was clear the workmanship was shoddy. They put up buildings quickly but they don’t last.
Regulations are written in blood.
Apparently, sometimes the ink needs a refresher.
Alec Steele from UA-cam said something really wise that I think about from time to time: “Buy once, cry once.” Quality really does pay for itself (if you can afford it at the time).
Outro music is very reminiscent of Boards of Canada. Nice
The b-roll bits always get me, haha
" more floors , more money , simples '' 😂😂😂 nice one John .
Right on. Thanks for sharing.
Codes save lives. Always report illegal construction.
Thanks to you John as soon as I read the discription the next thought in my head was Tofu Dreg. T hanks for posting John....
1:19 John, I’m sure you’d be great at construction, and don’t call me Shirley.
Punctual as always, John! Greetings from gloomy Hamburg, and have a great weekend!
Thanks, you too!
Experts? We don't need no stinkin' experts...
Over a million subscribers! Congratulations ! 🎉🎉🎉
Congrats on 1M subs! 🎉
This is a broader problem world wide as developers look to cut corners.
A problem in Canada is developers being forced to "build affordable rentals" in every project, so those "rental" units become 300sq ft death traps made of combustible materials, shallow foundations, and no parking spots (due to the removal of foundation space.) I've walked through a neighborhood in Vancouver and have seen patio's in MDU's converted into bedrooms. It's only a matter of time before we start seeing stories like this happening in "our backyards". The building inspectors and the city might not be aware of these modifications going on, but I've also watched a series of YT videos where someone buys basically a "tear down" and a lot of the DIY construction I just shake my head at because of the weather-inappropriateness of some of their new choices. The City absolutely approved all of this, and a lot of their complaints in the video is the city just taking forever.
I imagine the situation in China tends to always lead with "Corruption at all levels" but also a lot of these problems seem to originate in Chinese culture, where "pay someone to make the problem go away" just results in a lot of pushing responsibility to someone else being paid less than the previous guy until it comes to someone who just "solves" the problem with bribes.
Def also a problem in some US cities you might not otherwise have expected if from (a more expected city being NYC for example) where demand for less expensive housing is high for a long time now, but no one wants to be stuck with the bill to make it happen. Pay any attention to the local news and you end up hearing about some fire trapping tenants in a building illegally converted to additional units in places like DC or SF. Sometimes they were even on code enforcement/housing regulators' radar and yet nothing was done.
Why am I not surprised!
John, you forgot "Risks Ignored" on the bingo card when they said, 'Just send it' for the addition.
There ye go, the old geezer finally uploaded!
John, I love you. It's your bingo card only has four rows now. It's someone who is not an expert in bingo but has done at a time or two. I feel like maybe you're missing one.
It's kind of impressive to get the level of dreg just right so that it suffered a catastrophic failure only AFTER it was fully occupied. And with minimal space between it and two adjacent buildings! Usually someone would either notice components separating in a disturbing manner, or the shift would be lateral and stop (at least temporarily) when it hit something else.
Reminds me of a common problem in US cities in connection with digging out basements to add a foot or two of headroom.
sounds like another day in china tbh
Not a tofu dregs video! Look forward to finish watching this, thanks John!
This wouldn't have happened had they used galvanized square steel and expansion screws borrowed from aunt.
Hey John, don't know if you'll see this but i liked the song (Second Sun) you've used and produced for this video, it reminds me of Boards of Canada's works.
They will be told not to do that again! With such a server punishment, it isn't likely they will repeat it this year.
Illegal rooftop additions are common in older buildings in Taiwan as well. Though I think they've addressed it more aggressively and sooner. Especially since a poorly built residential complex collapsed after an earthquake.
*Hammers in a screw*
🤫
David Zhang be having a field day with this one😂
A few years ago I stayed with a friend in Athens. She lived in an illegal apartment built on the roof of a 5 storey complex. All concrete, apparently they’ve a lot of illegal structures there. Don’t know how safe they are though in an earthquake zone
As a civil engineer in VA, even re-striping a lot takes months of submissions and approvals. I feel so bad for the people living there….every ounce of this was avoidable.
As soon as I saw the headline _'TOFU BUILDING'_ I knew it would feature poor quality construction using poor quality materials.
So you’re saying galvanized square steel isn’t enough?
One the rare occasion that we looked into buying a house, addition without permits was a no-go.
Ive been building houses for 13 years and im not proud of our work anymore. Always pushed to cut corners to finish faster. Safety only matters when money isnt involved
Chinesium, TofeDreg and one of Chinese life mottos "What possibly could go wrong?".
Gives the phrase made in China a whole new meaning .
Congrats on 1 million ❤
Smh should've used galvanized square steel with screws borrowed from their aunt
I think the great leap forward is responsible for this tbh. The attitude of quantity over quality can be found in almost every corner of chinese manufacturing. Automotive, construction, food, furniture, etc etc etc. How well something is made doesnt matter, what does matter is how many you make and how quickly you do it.
When I was younger I used to watch a bunch of videos about the crumbling buildings in China this is like a throw back for me lol
I stayed in a 60rmb hotel and they had a giant 2m high poster of Mao. Who knows if there were cracks behind it. This construction is wonderful though, I love how much space there is in the city, restaurants, shops, hotels, everything within walking distance on a shoestring budget. Just don't cut corners too much. The alternative is USA or California with everything so unaffordable, you can't afford to stay in a hotel or have any living space.
It would be nice to have solid safety guidelines but also nice for people to be able to expand their living space and have as many rooms in their house as they want, and generally emerge from poverty. There's a lot of people in poverty in America who barely hang on even though they work all the time. That's not right. They should be drinking tea relaxing enjoying life.
why are you only comparing it to the worst state in the US like the rest of the planet doesnt exist
@@Stormer-vx5kw I haven't lived in other places than Toronto and New York, but I think most places life is hard, correct me if I'm wrong. I came to live in China 10 years ago and I love the $100 rentals and that ordinary people can put up multistory houses on their property.
New homes are unaffordable in every corner of the U.S . the land parcels alone are inflated by real estate developers. BUILDING your own home isn't practical anymore like it once was. ALL the required permits fees taxes financing price of lot building materials labor are burdensome
@@markr.devereux3385 exactly, which is why a developing country offers more freedom to do pretty much anything. In the towns and villages I've been in, the understanding is that it's up to the people to act morally and not hurt each other. Each town is different but it depends on their historical roots, the families knowing each other for generations, tied by a common religion, family lines, concept of honor, etc. Without cohesion it helps to have legislation, but cohesion and freedom is better than totalitarian legislation, something that they're going for now. fazhi shehui.
Also, I think this definitely qualifies for the "Risks Ignored" bingo space. ;)
Would you expect anything more from "Made in China"?
Everything in most of our day-to-day lives is made in China.
3:08-3:20 had me so fucked up, i got super confused listening to this in the other room. i had to process what you were saying a second time
3:12 as someone who has seen a fair share of meerkat commercials, thats hilarious.
Oh dear
8:40 No, in this case it's definitely deliberate. Many Chinese construction companies blatantly and intentionally ignore safety rules because they know they're not enforced.
I would have added "Risks Ignored" to the Bingo Card, but that's presuming that they knew there were risks to building that mess.