Corruption in China
By: Brian Li
The Lotus Riverside Complex was an entire building project in Minhang District, Shanghai, China. On June 27 of 2009, The Lotus Riverside Complex tipped over because of a mixture of ignorance and poor ethics. Workers were digging an underground garage near NO.7, and at the same time, they were dealing with the excess mud by piling the dirt on the other side of the building. They were supposed to keep the soil at a height beneath 10m. However, there was an error, and the workers kept piling the mud on the same pile. This, along with the wet soil from the rainy season Shanghai experienced and the lack of support from the vacant lot next to NO.7, made all the pressure store up beneath the mud pile. At one point, the pressure under the pile of mud was so great that it pushed the building sideways into the direction of the garage. Imagine a tug of war where the string that both teams tug is the support distributed from the facility to the ground, and when one side won this tug of war, all the lower supports only went to one side, and the building fell on the other. If it were not for ignorance, this could have been prevented. What is to applaud is the material. This is the one rare case in China where a building collapses, and it wasn't the fault of crappy cheap material. At least they did not build this thing entirely without care. The entire building kept its structural shape even after falling over, and the foundations were all laid in accordance with the regulations of Shanghai state. When this building began its collapse, it had fallen very slowly because of the resistance from the foundation. Everyone inside was able to escape right before the thing tumbled on top of them ( all of them except for one - his case was unique because he re-entered the building to collect his tools). So what went wrong? More specifically, who?
Shanghai Maidu Real Estate Development was the company behind the construction of the project. They started only back in 2007, and they were "done" with their project of eleven 13-story buildings in 2009. China has an incredibly fast construction speed. They are known worldwide to build buildings very quickly, but just as well known are their inconsistencies when it comes to ethics and standards. To add on, Shanghai Meidu Real Estate Development, though honest in its intent, could not match its intensity when it came to management. What's more, is that the construction company had been warned many times already of the building's fragileness. However, due to the lack of powers that the ironically named "supervision" company had on the construction company, the Shanghai Meidu ignored them and went on with their risky infrastructure. "We warned the construction company many times,' said Wang Jinquan, head of Shanghai Guangqi Construction Supervision. 'We have been telling them about the mud pile since the end of last year, but we have constantly been ignored." He explained that supervisors were in a 'weak' position, adding: 'We have to eat.' He refused to elaborate further." In China, unlike the U.S., supervision companies are hired by the government or are there for extra cautions. In China, the supervision companies are employed by the construction companies themselves. How is a minor power supposed to feel safe while whistleblowing the higher branch of power? Although, the supervision companies do have the authority to report to the local police. In China, they couldn't possibly report their source of income to the police. If we read between the lines, quote Wang Jinquan, "We have to eat" you can bet they sure weren't trying to make an excuse by saying that they were on an extensive lunch break while the building fell. If they report the project to local authorities, they risk having the details leaked, and the building might end up delayed, fined, or canceled. Then words would spread to the construction company AKA their employers. These "Development corps" only want cold hard cash. They don't care about accomplishments and the fate of those who live in the buildings. They just want to make and sell the buildings as fast as possible to start on their next project. If they see that they just had the project delayed and named disgraced, in the end, the supervision company would be punished. It would be like a minimum wage warehouse worker breaking a shelf, and all the content getting destroyed. Of course, this man or woman would be fired.
Possible actions that could've been taken to correct this mistake would have been first to install better on-site management teams so that the mud pile would have never reached 10m and above. But, knowing China, the project manager probably used that money to drink with his buddies. Second, an interesting investigation stated that the underground garage, dug up next to NO.7, had no outer wall support. This meant that it was more than likely that the rain could have caused the mud near the foundation to erode into the pit because it was the rainy season. If that were the case, that would have significantly weakened the support on that side of the building, leading it to tip over. This theory also helps explain why the building had fallen so straight to only one of its sides. Lastly, the final thing they could've done better was just to listen. The supervision company had been there multiple times to warn them of the dangerous possibilities. They were simply too blinded by greed to stop themselves. If the construction company had listened or was forced to comply, things might not have ended this way. The supervision and Construction company could have worked together and slowly diffused the bomb that was the Lotus Riverside Complex. However, under this unequal system, the Shanghai Meidu Development Corp played king, and this monarch, too foolish to listen to advice, lost remarkably. On a side note, the company at fault, Shanghai Meidu Real Estate Development, actually had their license expired three years before being granted the permit even to start construction. The bigger question to ask would be, how did I even get this opportunity in the first place?
I'm also not shifting the blame on the System in China. I acknowledge that it is flawed, but every system can work if just the right people work under it, and the opposite holds as well. If the Chinese businesses were only less greedy, this system could have significantly worked. Having the construction companies hire supervision themselves could dramatically increase the rate cities, and countryside develop. Everyone could work on their own little thing and, in the end, create something massive, like an ant hivemind. But as of this point, the supervision companies do not have a voice defiant enough to keep things straight.
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