Name: China’s Exploding Manhole Covers Reveal a Hole Lot of Problems
Uploaded: 2021-06-29T14:05:59.000Z
Duration: 8 min 13 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Adverbs of degree

Show how China's construction  just doesn't hold up.

Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell.

Chinese New Year is around the corner.  Do you know where your firecrackers are?  

Remember to keep them away from children.

Wait, I thought manhole covers were supposed to  weigh like 250 pounds each. A single firecracker  

blew five manhole covers into the air? I don't  think those manhole covers were up to code.

And that's not the only manhole cover  related explosion coming out of China.  

A few months earlier, in a  different city, this happened.

According to Newsweek, “The explosion is  believed to have been caused when the boy's  

live firecracker ignited  flammable gases underground.”

Wait, why were there FLAMMABLE GASES UNDERGROUND?!

And isn't the whole point of having heavy iron  manhole covers to prevent them from being moved?

But if you think these are isolated incidents,  you've never been to the real China.

These are what are known as tofu-dreg  projects. Tofu-dreg is a slang term in  

China used to describe poor quality construction. 

Yes, shoddy construction is so common in  China, there's a special phrase for it.

The phrase was coined in 1998 by former Premier  Zhu Rongji when he visited the Yangtze River  

and described the flood  dykes there as being flimsy  

like the crumbly bits left  over after you make tofu.

Under the Chinese Communist Party, the  culture of corruption seeps into everything.

When it comes to construction, corruption  can happen at any stage—design,  

planning, procuring materials, and building.  People cut costs to skim money at each level,  

they ignore safety rules, and  they even bribe inspectors.

And then you get things like  this: You can peel off the  

“concrete” of this bridge with your  bare hands. Don't light a firecracker.

Now I'm not saying *all* Chinese construction  

is like this. But in mainland  China, it's shockingly common.

Last year, a poorly built hotel that had  been converted into a quarantine center  

collapsed, killing more than two dozen people.

People were outraged. So why  doesn't the government just step  

in and fix the problem? Because they're in on it!

“Local governments... have massive incentives  to promote rapid and unfettered growth,  

and often turn a blind eye to construction  standards. For one, local governments rely on  

the revenues arising from construction, including  land sales and transfer fees... For another,  

local officials are promoted based on  the growth rates of their jurisdictions.”

Construction companies under China's corrupt  communist system cut corners at nearly every  

step of the process. And local officials don't  seem to care. In fact, they often get a cut of  

the extra profits. As long as the buildings get  built and look ok, they're doing a bang-up job.

And you'll get a kick out of this. One guy did.  

Within the next minute, 215 guardrail posts  fell into the water across nearly half a mile.

It's like playing dominoes, except you could die. 

I also recommend you don't live  in an area that has typhoons,  

so...half of China's east coast. I really hope  this blows the lid off of Chinese corruption.

Otherwise the issue could  just fall through the cracks.

And this kind of thing happens everywhere,  even in residential apartments.

Have fun trying to tell your boss you can't come  into work today because THE STAIRS FELL OFF!

Basically it's exactly what happened in  The Money Pit, only instead of one house,  

With all the Chinese Communist Party's  propaganda about their fancy skyscrapers...

...there are a lot of problems under the surface.

Just last summer, the Shanghai Tower (Corner  Box), China's tallest building, had a huge water  

leak that reached from the 60th floor down to the  9th floor, ruining furniture and office supplies.

Now tofu-dreg projects are kind of a  sensitive topic for Chinese leader Xi Jinping,  

who claims to be implementing  nationwide anti-corruption measures.  

The truth is, he's not actually stopping  corruption. And he definitely doesn't want  

to hear your feedback either. Like if you tell him  the Three Gorges Dam is cracking under pressure.

“Beijing recently admitted the wall  has 'leaked, moved and distorted.'”

We can only hope that there will  finally be an end to the tofu-dreg  

projects soon—or at some point the dam is really  going to burst for the Chinese Communist Party.

And the whole thing could blow up in their face.

And now it's time for me to answer a question from  a viewer who supports China Uncensored on Patreon.

Jason says: “Hey Chris, video idea: Short  video on how the CCP effects everyone's life. 

Whenever I try to educate people about the  CCP,  some people just don't care because  

they think China is so far away how could  it ever have an impact on their life.”

Well, Jason, this whole video was  about how the culture of corruption  

affects the lives of regular people in mainland  China. People there actually have to live and  

work in these poorly made buildings, and  there's very little they can do about it.

This kind of tofu-dreg construction also happens  in countries that are part of China's Belt and  

Road initiative—or really anywhere that  uses Chinese construction and materials.

If you want good quality Chinese  construction...go to Taiwan.

And thank you for watching. Be like  Jason and support China Uncensored  

by going to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored and  contributing a dollar or more per episode.

I might even read your question on the show.

Once again, I'm Chris Chappell.  Thanks for watching China Uncensored.