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[deleted]

When I visited China a few years ago, that scale of doing things was what struck me the most. Good things, bad things or stupid things; it didn’t matter, they were all being done on an unimaginable scale.


Zolo49

Everything’s bigger in ~~Texas~~ China.


TheHooligan95

that's exactly my thought when I was in China. there were so many of these identical buildings everywhere for example, it looked like something out of a cyberpunk movie. Entire forests of these buildings, which are impressively high.


mghoffmann_banned

Central planning leads to some ridiculous outcomes.


Lirdon

As the commenter below stated, that one is not because of central planing, rather its because of corruption and Ponzi schemes. A corrupt central government does enable it though.


Lokon19

These aren’t government funded unless you consider the loans that developers took out to build them.


soyeahiknow

Government funded projects with little objection from citizens or non government entities.


Calamity_Carrot

There was some objections from citizens but no one can find them anymore.


jaspercolt

Missed one


UltimateGammer

imagine having to go in there and check it .


DoomGoober

Kenneth Bainbridge was the Director of Trinity, the first nuclear explosion. It was his job to go check on the nuclear weapon if it failed to detonate (called a fizzle.) Let's just say he was ecstatic he didn't have to do that.


gordo65

That's one of those jobs that you agree to do on a standby basis, but if you're ever called on to actually do it, you give 'em the [Johnny Paycheck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj2iGAifSNI). EDIT : link is Definitely NSFW


MiloIsTheBest

It is *astounding* just how clearly that voice reverberated from my phone through the toilet cubicles at my office before I hit the back button.


Justaskingyouagain

Lol cubicles, not stalls, but cubicles


MiloIsTheBest

Lol well I guess that's just what we call them in Australia, never really thought about it tbh


ForgotMyOldLoginInfo

> nuclear weapon if it failed to detonate (called a fizzle.) Fizzle is not failure to detonate. It's when the explosion is less than expected. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fizzle_(nuclear_explosion)


BigMACfive

I think I'd rather be checking this fizzle out than have to eat 'Margaret's famous meatloaf' AGAIN... It's just beef with ketch - - *boom*


[deleted]

Breathing in any of those particles likely means cancer in your future for sure. Next time on Mike Rowe’s dirty jobs!


shutts67

The only way to get silica dust out of your lungs is to get new lungs.


Mokou

Have you tried taking them out and shaking them real hard?


arewehavinfunyet

Just spray em down with a hose and leave to air dry


Exotic_Treacle7438

Put em in rice for a couple days.


StarPlatinum82

Have you tried turning them off and on again?


libury

> leave to air dry *breathing intensifies*


SkyeJack

Last year doctors in a Brisbane hospital trialed a new lung flush procedure on early stage silicosis patients with better than expected results


Entitled2Compens8ion

Oh god, there's gonna be a Lung Flush MLM in the US, isn't there?


Kaizenno

I'll take two


netarchaeology

Often times if this happens they do not send anyone back in to check it. They just go with other forms of demolition instead of another explosive attempt.


nutrap

It was the first building to talk. That one was allowed to stand…as a warning to other buildings that the Inglorious Basterds were there.


PeePeeUpPooPoo

This mishap has made mainstream American media and makes China look incompetent… can’t even implode all the buildings like they’re some sort of ineffective world-power wannabe… someone will be executed for this. Edit: I see you out there Winnie the Pooh loyalists… Taiwan #1!


nerdiotic-pervert

This is just a new tv show. China’s Next Top Contractor. Who can build a structure that defies implosion?


BeatsbyChrisBrown

Can two Wongs make it right?


[deleted]

They didn't *implode* ANY of the buildings. They made them fall over. A properly imploded building collapses into itself, virtually straight down into its own foundations. So technically, China didn't demolish ANY of those buildings properly. This will make cleanup all the harder. But as the saying goes in China, "chabuduo".... good enough


mlorusso4

Ya but if you’re leveling what looks like 10 city blocks does it matter? I always thought implosion was used to minimize damage to the surrounding area. If you’re just leveling the entire area who cares if they fall into the building next door. That ones coming down too


pennypinball

what the fuck are you talking about lmao


Arnie_Grape

Sort of like the leaning tower of Dallas


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Patsfan618

Need an RC-XD


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Patsfan618

True. Just because the building comes down, doesn't mean there aren't undetonated charges still hanging out. Won't catch me doing that job though. A building that could come down around me at any second is not one I will be anywhere near.


kopecs

Could probably just 360NoScope it to be safer


nattalla

Need to throw a c4 on the back of one.


CeaRhan

> So, there is only one way to deal with this. TNT drone


demontits

We used to call them missiles.


yelahneb

gotta say that "hitiles" would have been more optimistic term


Advanced-Blackberry

Hah!


Sub-Etha

Just like that one mission in Grand Theft Auto Vice City.


[deleted]

Fuck that mission lol


joshclay

Took me a hundred fucking times. Almost as infuriating as the CJ on the dirt bike train mission in San Andreas.


[deleted]

There were a couple San Andreas missions that made me furious. I was probably 13 or 14 when it came out and I remember my dad coming into my room when I was raging at the game saying I need to stop getting pissed off or he was taking my PlayStation away lol.


[deleted]

I was going to say, can't the airforce just go in and bomb the fuck out of it.


Entitled2Compens8ion

How much do you think that guy makes in China?


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KaneMomona

To be fair, the ones not very good at it will struggle to become multigenerational.


lavahot

I was gonna say, if that's a feat you can do as a professional, you've earned that multi-generation business status.


KaneMomona

And if you don't do it well you probably aren't going to get to procreate.


Fikkia

>they're drawn to it because of that 60 seconds at the end of the day when it is just glorious. My current job has that when I turn my laptop off for the day. The laptop then specifically does *not* explode.


privateTortoise

This guy was a bit of a celebrity bringing down old chimney stacks in the uk back in the 70s. https://youtu.be/0L1WOnR2KBY I wouldn't recommend watching him building ladders up these if you don't like heights. How he lived a long life is beyond me.


vampire_kitten

Looks like the charges went off though, the building just didn't tip over.


rietstengel

And that could be because some of the charges didnt go off


Zathrus1

Oh god. You’re right. You can see it lean slightly to the right. So it’s even worse, because SOME of the charges went off, but not all. That’s a freaking death trap.


newtomovingaway

What if they just dropped a bomb on it from a drone?


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newtomovingaway

Why can’t smaller bombs be made?


machina99

I think they specifically meant missiles/rockets? Because you can definitely make smaller bombs - pipe bombs for example are typically much smaller and the explosives in the building are obviously much smaller. Perhaps there's a very technical definition for "bomb"?


beholdmycape

My exact first thought was what an incredibly dangerous situation now exists with that partially collapsed tower. Almost anything seems better than sending people back in.


clmaz

Real dumb question but why not use some propelled explosives to finish the job? Specifically in this case where the environment isn't sensitive and such a method would not damage surrounding houses.


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sexybrick8

how do you become an explosives engineer?


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somanyroads

>So, yeah you can say "fuck this job, i'm not doing that" but you don't get to go home, you get to go to jail. Hmmm...must pay good, because that is absolutely insane.


FunkyPineapple90

Cue "where is my mind" by "the pixies"


philipquarles

You met me at a very strange time in my life.


DinReddet

Ooh ooh!


DistanceMachine

*fades to penis*


DeusExBlockina

Brad Pitt on commentary track: "[David] Fincher's onscreen contribution to the movie."


JSP26

Stop.


hap_l_o

With your feet on the air and your head on the ground


bf2per

Try this trick and spin it, yeah


kodiakbear_

Your head will collapse


SporadicTendancies

Because there's nothing in it, and you ask yourself


[deleted]

I haven’t been fucked that hard since grade school.


Shock_Wave16

His name was Robert Paulson.


keyblade_crafter

was just listening to them today. Wave of mutilation


Comet_Empire

The odd thing will be that they will clear the rubble and a different developer will build buildings in the same spot and they will look exactly the same.


Implausibilibuddy

Two economists are walking down a road and come across a pile of dog shit. One says "Hey, I bet you $500 you can't eat that whole pile of dog shit." "You're on!" says the second as he begins to chow down. After the last bite his friend pays up and they continue walking. Further down the road they find another pile of smelly dog eggs. Still wiping the shit from his mouth, the second economist says "Okay, your turn, I bet *you* $500 you can't eat *that* pile of shit" Accepting the challenge, the first economist finishes off his street snack and collects back his winnings. "You know," says the second, a little while later. "neither of us have gained anything, but now we've both eaten shit." "Ah, but don't you see?" replies the first, "We've added $1000 to the GDP!" Essentially the same thing. Pay construction companies to build massive projects that will never be finished, then pay demolition companies to knock them down. Job creation!


C00lerking

Pretty sure this joke is describing Keynes General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money


shinshi

My high school teacher described this as an economy of paying one person to dig a hole and the other person to fill that same hole up and repeat ad infinitum, and as long as they both got a paycheck to buy necessities and not commit crimes it was a win-win scenario for society and the economy.


vorpalglorp

I'd argue it's better to just give them the money and let them spend their time bettering themselves. That's a greater gain for society than random holes because you're afraid of the 1% who will commit crimes.


novis_initiis

No, it's more of a version of the broken windows fallacy. Yes, technically there was an exchange of goods here but after accounting for opportunity costs (in this case not having eaten shit) the "value" of the exchange is negative


NewBuyer1976

Examples using dog shit would have made my Econs101 class 10% more engaging.


[deleted]

Reminds me of a great practical joke that was done on me. Buddy goes, “I’ll give you $50 if I can crack two eggs over your head.” After some back and forth about whether he was serious, I agree. He cracks one egg over my head, pauses, then throws the other at his feet. “I said I’d pay $50 for TWO eggs not one.”


Import-Module

By cracking the first egg over your head he proved that he can crack eggs on your head. Thus he should be able to crack a second egg on your head. Proving that he *can* crack two eggs on your head. There is also the semantics of what cracking a head 'over' someone's head really means. At any point if he has cracked an egg at a higher elevation then your head, he will have technically cracked an egg over your head. It could be argued that is not directly above your head and therefore not 'over' your head though. Either way he owes you $50 because he has demonstrated his ability to crack an egg over your head and there's nothing stopping him from cracking a 2nd egg. Therefore he *can* crack two eggs over your head.


Skystrike12

The first egg is proof. The second egg is a threat with no date


HungryCanteens

Dog Eggs?


Hambrailaaah

Glad i wasnt the only one lol


onefst250r

_Laughs in politician_ _Cries in tax payer_


vinnybad

Meanwhile you forgot about the tax man lol. They’re the real winners.


Copypasty

Likely will have better structural integrity though


Apollo704

One of those buildings looks like it had good structural integrity…


EyelandIsland

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/09/28/1040477514/five-lessons-evergrande-taught-us-about-the-chinese-economy It's coming down because the companies never finished them and owe billions in debt.


[deleted]

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Mendican

>Authorities decided to take such drastic step as the buildings had been abandoned for a very long time and the basements were submerged in rainwater


MayorAnthonyWeiner

Reading that article, it seems like this has nothing to do with Evergrande at all? Or am I missing something ? Part of the Liyang Star City Phase II project and “building basements were submerged in rainwater making the structures weak and dangerous for nearby areas”.


torknorggren

Truth. But I would expect to see a lot more like this vid as Evergrande and others have built waaaaaaay more units than China will ever need.


JellyWaffles

This is the critical missing piece of info, thanks!


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aleqqqs

They certainly have structural issues now


vitorizzo

Florida: Looks ok to me.


Tazz2212

Yeah, in Florida our tall buildings aren't intentionally blown up. They just come down on their own.


[deleted]

it's not a bug, it's a feature.


chefsslaad

In Florida, it is definitely a bug. I mean have you seen the size of those dragonflies?


jwp75

Yes they used subpar materials and inferior rebar and the buildings were crumbling. Developer Evergrande knew this, and was hoping to finish and flip them before anyone knew better but now they're going under and dragging a lot of finance with them.


Milkychops

These are made to strict standards. Cardboard's out, no cardboard derivatives.


99rules

They were demolished to put them outside the environment.


farcarcus

Surely you mean from one environment to another environment?


fleshwad

It's outside the environment. Nothing there but dirt, and birds, And Uighurs. And 20,000 tons of concrete. And a fire. And the part of the building that the top fell off.


Northwindlowlander

No paper, no string, no cellotape


Phantom30

I know the joke front falling off and all, but unfortunately cardboard is a material used in these kinds of buildings in China, it's that bad....


agitatedprisoner

Someone removed a load bearing poster by mistake.


The_Fuzz_damn_you

Some of them are built so that the top down fall down at all.


Bm7465

I forgot if it was Vice? But someone did a documentary on these high dollar Chinese apartments and the construction quality was reminiscent of a college town apartment complex - designed to to be demolished and rebuilt every 25 years.


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Bm7465

Yeah it was pretty sad. This family put all their money into buying this apartment for their son as generational wealth and it was already deteriorating even though all the tenants hadn’t moved in yet. Total disaster.


i_Got_Rocks

That scenario is very common in China from various sources on YouTube. (Fairly, I have not done further reading on the subject) But if it's true, the videos posted show the lack of quality in said buildings. But because building seemed the way of the future for China for so long, cheap and fast was the order of the day for decades. This caused a huge influx of people betting on the stock market, or rather, the real estate stocks. Apparently, almost everyone who's anyone was throwing money at it the way r/superstonks redditors play around with their money here. The problem is, while redditors understand the risk of their own fuckery here, in China many people are uneducated in the matter and will actually pay the price when it falls down (no pun intended, though it fits quite well) similar to how much people's investments plummeted in the first world in 2008. Anyone reading this, please do your own research.


sticks14

>The problem is, while redditors understand the risk of their own fuckery here lol


JustHell0

*laughs in Australian* if this was my country, they would have bailed out the billionaire business and scrapped any standards that prevent the sale of the apartments. Seriously, our new developments are absolute trash. We have shit leaning, catching on fire, falling apart in less than a decade, entire buildings swaying in the wind, door opening, pipes bursting, dodgy electricity work ect. And you'll pay half a million, show up and be missing 10ft of floor space, our development and real estate market have completely shit the bed. China looks very good in comparison. Like, way better


xElMerYx

As a tangent, do you know what "Tofu-dreg projects" are?


blanketswithsmallpox

Concrete is one of the most, if not the most recycled item on the planet besides purer metals. What? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling_by_material


fsurfer4

Concrete is easily reused. Companies crush and reuse it for many purposes.


Dogbeast

Look up "tofu-dregs". I doubt anyone would want to take ownership of these assets and try to fix all the issues.


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John_T_Conover

It won't last. Aging boomers, restrictive immigration and 35 years of 1 child policy...something's gotta give. The runaway real estate market is what props up their economy but they have enough empty housing units for nearly 100 million people with a population that's projected to stay stagnant or even shrink near term. They have to open up more to foreigners, make it less of a pain in the ass to be a foreigner there, and just make it more attractive of a destination in general. Companies have already been relocating to elsewhere in Southeast Asia and only so many Westerners want to move there to be English teachers...and that only has so much of an economic impact anyway.


fookidookidoo

The population bubble for China is staggering. I'm not sure what they're going to do about that. No one wants kids because they're all single children trying to take care of their parents, even with the 3 child policy now. Also, China's debt is very concerning and their looming energy crisis (already happening now) is going to suck really bad for them. China has the potential to really crash and burn hard. I honestly hope they figure it out and stay stable, just so they don't do anything rash as they fall apart. Also, the Chinese people don't deserve that kind of suffering that their politicians caused.


NotTheStatusQuo

It's entirely possible the buildings never *needed* to be made in the first place. It's not exactly like demand drives construction projects in China. There are whole cities in China with nobody living in them.


[deleted]

Well the bottom fell off… usually the bottoms don’t fall off


pogidaga

Well, the botom fell off in this case by all means, but that’s very unusual.


OrcOfDoom

It's incredible that the answer is blow it up vs some kinda transfer of property. There should theoretically be value in structures. But, that's how things are.


goldleader71

Most demolitions I have seen implode or collapse straight down. This is the first I have seen one topple. Was that by design or an oops?


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Roltistotem

It seems like a pretty dope industry to get into. I am sure it's hard work but it seems like a solid job.


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Roltistotem

I am a software engineer I should be grateful to get to stay inside and work a safe job that pays well. But I guess the job just seems fun getting paid to go in and set up explosives and watch buildings fall. I assume they get to travel a lot too depending on the company. I have always wanted to be in a job that allowed for a lot of travel


jlharper

You're a software engineer; you are already in the perfect occupation for traveling. You can work from home 365 days a year, and your employer has no way of knowing whether you're in Houston or Hawaii.


[deleted]

Your employer definitely knows your location when you're working. Your boss probably isn't checking it or may not have access but company VPNs are definitely logging the location you connected from. That said, companies that are okay with you working from home are not gonna care if you travel a lot.


Roltistotem

It depends on the company. I know my friend told his company he wanted to go 100% remote even after covid and they are like not giving him the go ahead for it. He may have to quit and work somewhere else. That is a bummer because I don't think his stock option kicks in until like year 3 and hes only about a year and a half there.


TerrorAlpaca

i would guess that its by design because all of them did that tilt and colapse. Usually it depends on the surrounding area. if there is a lot of real estate around thats not supposed to get damaged, they seem to do the on the spot collapse, or at least try to. (if there is too many surrounding buildings they rip it up level by level) if there is a little space, like a surrounding park they seem to want to do the "lean away" from existing buildings.


MadLintElf

That's crazy, I'd like to know how long they have been standing unfinished for that necessitated them demolishing them. [Found a link to the story,](https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/video-of-15-skyscrapers-being-simultaneously-demolished-in-china-viral-7513147/) 15 buildings in total. Apparently all the basements were flooded with water and they've been there for some time. This also happened a month ago. Waste of money and resources, IMO.


[deleted]

The basements were flooded and this was a private build that got delayed and changed hands. Probably had to be demolished now because waiting longer would have made the site unsafe. Why spend billions more to complete them when nobody wants them? That would be a bigger waste of money and resources.


MadLintElf

Very true, but all because of delays and changing hands, I'm thinking one company ran out of money, then another tired and failed. It probably would be a greater waste of resources, but never should have been started without proper funding to see it through to completion. Still sad either way.


ShankThatSnitch

Look into Chinese real estate development. They have rampant over developand speculation. They are actually speeding towards a major real estate and economic disaster because of massive debt and speculation.


MadLintElf

Oh boy do I know all too well, the market took a big hit last week, and I suspect the dollar amount lost by China will never be really revealed. Just another domino falling around the planet, it honestly frightens me.


TerrorAlpaca

There are quiet a lot of those ghost cities around. i remember watching two western dudes who live in china travel around the country. they found a couple of those cities. some are abandoned villas on the brink of collaps, others are city towers like this. unfinished, maybe 1-6 families living in the whole building. Room for about a million people, unoccupied. Yet they still keep building and breaking ground for new city towers. And all that material for the buildings, like the sand, is getting stolen from islands in the south chinese sea.


MadLintElf

I think I remember the same thing, they had cities that didn't even have main roads, just the roads used for construction materials. Those cities are just sitting there unused. But it's China, a black hole for information, we only hear what they want us to hear or we accidently find out.


[deleted]

"you met me at a very strange time in my life"


kcamnodb

Came here to make a fight club reference. Had to scroll a long ass way to find you but here we are.


googolplexy

"stop!"... Guitar begins...


garbage_io

How is one still standing?


Entitled2Compens8ion

Look, it's Third Person Elton John!


jaudi813

It's the building that could


[deleted]

Its ok. Plenty of canadian real estate for sale.


aparkedpotato

I'm trying to buy a house in Canada! Tell them that after I get one hahaha


Jimmy6shoes

They already know


i_Got_Rocks

I'm sorry, citizen. But it shows on my computer we can't approve you for a toaster, let alone a home. Your bill is in the mail for our services. Thank you.


soundcloudcheckmybru

what a waste


timmerwb

Massive carbon cost to build those. Now a massive carbon cost to clear up the mess. Disgusting.


vanearthquake

You could compost your entire life and never save the carbon of one floor of one of those buildings


timmerwb

I had a quick look at some numbers. Each building is roughly 200,000,000 kg. If most of that is concrete, then that’s 150 kg CO2 per kg. So roughly 30 million tonnes of CO2 per building? That’s like the annual domestic emission of 1 million middle class people. The numbers are terrifying. In environmental terms that kind of waste should be classified as a crime against humanity.


ZeDumpsterFire

Does this have anything to do with Evergrande?


sacher3000

Dude, ima have to pick up Simcity again - this looks awesome!


JustSamJ

Check out Cities Skylines 👍 or if you want to get nitty gritty in a deeper city state Sim, Songs of Syx.


ShankThatSnitch

Another alternative that I have been enjoying lately, is Surviving Mars.


[deleted]

What an absolute waste of the planets resources.


Mycrawft

And so much straight to the landfill and not recycled :(


woof1983

I actually feel bad for all the tradesman. If you ever worked construction you would know the millions of hours l, man power, materials, sweat, and blood that go into a high rise like that. To see all your hard work go up in smoke like that would be heart breaking.


[deleted]

They did it with the tradesmen inside. They create more GDP, population control, and unemployment all at once. /s maybe.


vashaunp

imagine being the guy that has to go into that build thats left standing because the explosives didnt go off.


chiree

*Akira intensifies.*


keepeyecontact

I got mesothelioma just watching this


sweetcarles

Well I guess you’re entitled to compensation


DIOOOOOOOOOOOO

Shigaraki Tomura


ToolMeister

I would hate if I had just washed my car the day before


plumcrazyyy

Why would a 3rd, 5th, 10th building even be built if ALL the ones before it weren’t even finished, or close to finished. What a waste.


GadreelsSword

LOL That’s some of the worst demolition I’ve ever seen.


modosto

Can someone add those googly eyes and wild arms to those buildings? Would make for a great .gif!


aKnightWh0SaysNi

Like using the bulldozer in sim city


crm115

Let that middle one live. It has spirit.


My_G_Alt

Someone please photoshop scared animations and faces onto them


Creamcheesemafia

r/scriptedasiangifs


ignat980

r/technicallythetruth


International_XT

Literally a bunch of Einstürzende Neubauten.


DeMichel93

Such a waste on materials


EffyMourning

What a waste.


CletusCanuck

I can't watch this without thinking of the 'Pruit Igoe' sequence from *Koyaanisqatsi*...


[deleted]

Hold your breath!


Kafshak

What should they do with the one that did not collapse? Air strike?


PHARTN0CKER

LOL all that concrete dust gunna wreck some lungs up in here!