“Tofu-dreg construction” has become a chilling symbol of systemic failure in China’s building industry. The term refers to structures that look solid on the outside but crumble under minimal stress, much like tofu. Over the past two decades, countless apartment blocks, schools, bridges, and public facilities have been exposed as dangerously substandard, collapsing during earthquakes, floods, or even routine use. These failures are not isolated accidents. They are the predictable result of a development model that prioritizes speed, political targets, and short-term profit over safety and accountability.
At the core of the problem lies a toxic chain of incentives. Local officials are evaluated on visible economic growth, pushing them to approve massive construction projects at breakneck speed. Developers, often protected by political connections, cut costs by using inferior materials, reducing steel reinforcement, falsifying safety reports, and bribing inspectors. Regulatory oversight, rather than acting as a safeguard, frequently becomes a formality or a source of rent-seeking. When disasters occur, investigations are tightly controlled, responsibility is diffused, and meaningful accountability is rare.
The human cost of tofu-dreg construction is devastating. Families lose homes overnight, parents bury children killed in collapsed school buildings, and entire communities are left traumatized and financially ruined. Yet public discussion is often suppressed. Victims seeking justice face intimidation, censorship, or forced settlements that silence them without addressing the root causes. As a result, the same patterns repeat year after year.
Tofu-dreg construction is not merely an engineering problem; it is a governance crisis. It exposes deep flaws in transparency, rule of law, and public oversight. Until safety standards are enforced independently, corruption is punished consistently, and citizens are allowed to speak freely about failures, the concrete may keep rising—but trust, once broken, will not be so easily rebuilt.
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