New Tofu Construction: Shopping malls and stores collapse in two cities on the same day

New tofu construction. Shopping malls and stores collapse in two cities on the same day. A businessman with tens of millions in assets went bankrupt, leaving only a bottle of Sprite auctioned by the court for 4 yuan. American photographer leaves Beijing lecture, midway due to dissatisfaction with audience looking at their phones. Tofu projects and buildings have mushroomed under the CCP regime due to rampant corruption among officials and cadres. Corruption permeates from top to bottom, even in the construction sector, leading to the use of substandard materials, steel and cement. As a result, these constructions are of poor quality, with crumbling walls made of sand, concrete without reinforcement, and buildings that easily collapse during unexpected incidents. Many cases of residential buildings and large traffic bridges collapsing have occurred in mainland China, causing significant loss of life and property. The number of such incidents increases every year, but the CCP regime continues to ignore the problem. Recently, on the same day, shopping malls or shops collapsed in both Chongqing and Changzhou Jiangsu. In Chongqing, one person was killed and another injured, while fortunately, no casualties were reported in Changzhou. However, a witness claimed he had narrowly escaped death, passing the site only two minutes before the collapse. On the afternoon of September 21, local time, a netizen in Chongqing posted in an online community that a house collapsed in Gaomiao village, Shapingba, Chongqing, and it was suspected that people were buried. Mainland media later reported that at 8 or 9 a.m. on the 21st, a shop engaged in waterproofing business collapsed in the Lianfang Waterproof Wholesale Market on Shixiao Road, Shapingba District, Chongqing. Several people were buried at the scene of the accident, though the specific casualties were initially unknown. Later that day, the Chongqing Shapingba District Media Center released a statement saying that the interlayer of a store at No. 160 Shixiao Road, Shapingba District, had collapsed, trapping two people. After rescue efforts, both were sent to the hospital. One person died after unsuccessful resuscitation, and the other was injured but not in life-threatening condition. The cause of the collapse is under investigation. On the same day, netizens in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, posted about a pedestrian corridor on the second floor of Changzhou Taifu Times Square collapsing. Fortunately, it was still early, and there were few people in the mall. No one was passing by at the time, so no casualties occurred. Another eyewitness posted a video of the scene, saying that he had just passed by the corridor when it collapsed. I was scared to tears. It suddenly collapsed. It was just two minutes before and after I passed by the god of death. The netizen also reflected, At that moment, I realized nothing is more precious than life. That afternoon, Dafeng News, part of the mainland media Huashang Daily, reported that the corridor collapse at Taifu Times Square in Zuchtown, Zhonglu District, Changzhou City, occurred at around 8 a.m. on the 21st. A passage in the accident scene had been completely destroyed, with pipes spraying water, and the scene was chaotic. A merchant in Taifu Times Square told Dafeng News that the collapsed corridor on the second floor of Futai Times Square was neither affected by the typhoon nor undergoing any shop renovation. It just collapsed. The specific cause is still under investigation. In China, the term tofu dregs, the remnants left after making tofu, is widely used as a metaphor for poor workmanship, meaning that a tofu dreg project refers to a poorly executed endeavor. The term tofu project was first coined by former Premier Zhu Rongji in 1998, when he remarked during a tour of the Yangtze River flood protection embankments that they were as fragile and spongy as tofu dregs. The term gained national attention after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, where 20,000 of the nearly 70,000 victims were schoolchildren who died in collapsed school buildings, later shown to have been hastily and carelessly built. In July 2010, anger erupted in the hard-hit Sichuan earthquake area, when a building intended as a new home for earthquake victims collapsed just weeks before it was due to be put into use. The prevalence of these tofu projects results from rampant corruption and graft in China. Officials often skim money from projects, leaving insufficient funds for quality materials, qualified staff, and proper workmanship. Additionally, projects are frequently awarded to companies based on political connections rather than qualifications. Due to frequent house collapses and poor-quality tofu dreg construction, the mainland media outlet, Shangguan News, listed five warning signs before a building collapse for readers to be aware of. 1. The ground suddenly sinks. Hollows or cracks appear suddenly and increase. 2. Severe cracks develop in load-bearing columns, beams, slabs, or walls. 3. Deformation of load-bearing columns, beams, slabs, or walls, or serious decay or corrosion of wooden components. 4. Large areas of the wall or ceiling suddenly peel or fall off. 5. The building suddenly makes abnormal sounds. A businessman with tens of millions in assets went bankrupt, leaving only a bottle of Sprite auctioned by the court for 4 yuan. Recently, auction information from a court in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, gained public attention. The auctioned item was a bottle of Sprite soda, with a starting price of 4.2 yuan. The owner of the Sprite was a businessman with a net worth of tens of millions. After his bankruptcy, the court auctioned off his property to repay his debts. This news caught the attention of netizens who criticized the court for wasting judicial resources. The Dafeng District Court of Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, recently announced an auction on its platform, where many low-priced small commodities attracted attention. Among them, a bottle of Sprite, with a market price of 6 yuan, was auctioned for 4.2 yuan. The auction terms stated that the item was available for self-pickup only, with no mailing option. Many netizens expressed surprise On the afternoon of September 22, the Yangtze Evening News reported that one of the owners of the large bottle of Sprite was the legal representative of a biotechnology company and a marine food company in Jiangsu. The registered capital of these two companies was 5 million renminbi and 1.725 million U.S. dollars respectively, with a total registered capital exceeding 10 million renminbi. Mr. Chen, one of the individuals subject to enforcement, said that his company had gone bankrupt. After the bankruptcy, the court began auctioning his personal property to repay his debts. Mr. Chen mentioned that he no longer has any enforceable assets. For the future, he still hopes to work hard and turn his situation around. A search of past auction records from the Dafeng District Court in Yancheng City revealed that other cheap items, such as expired bottled water for 4.08 yuan, a weighing scale for 5 yuan, and a vegetable washing basin for 7 yuan, had also been auctioned. Many netizens criticized this practice, calling it a waste of public and judicial resources. Comments ranged from Ridiculous to Are you just having fun? and Wasting judicial resources for nonsense. Some netizens even mocked, I investigated the prices of a bottle of Sprite, a set of screwdrivers, and a scale in one day, put them up for auction for 18 yuan and received a salary of 300 yuan. Another remarked, the year-end summary can include the total number of cases handled, making everyone's workload seem reasonable. A netizen from Liaoning, Yunyun Zhongsheng, commented, This is a waste of public resources. The registered capital of the company subject to enforcement in this case exceeds 10 million yuan. Even if all goods are auctioned after the bankruptcy, items worth only a few yuan are not worth auctioning. Given the backlog of cases needing enforcement, it's better to focus on recovering significant losses from multiple cases rather than wasting energy on insignificant items in one. This netizen noted that the once successful entrepreneur is now in deep financial difficulty. The dramatic turn of his fate highlights the cruelty and unpredictability of the business world. He added that this incident is not just a personal economic tragedy, but also a reflection of broader changes in the business environment. In recent years, as the economy fluctuated, many companies faced issues like broken capital chains and customer loss. Especially in certain consumer goods sectors, fierce competition has led once successful companies to collapse. This trend is particularly evident against the backdrop of an overall economic downturn and weak social consumption. American photographer leaves Beijing lecture, Midway, due to dissatisfaction with audience looking at their phones. The retrospective exhibition of Stephen Shore, an internationally renowned photographer and contemporary American artist, opened in Beijing on September 14th. On September 19, he abruptly left a lecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, expressing dissatisfaction with many audience members who were looking down at their phones. According to the official WeChat account of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum, Stephen Shore's speech, titled Five Experiences That Changed My Life and How They Made Me an Artist, was also broadcast live. On September 20th, a netizen posted, many people in the audience were looking at their phones from start to finish, and Stephen Shore left the lecture. The news quickly sparked heated discussions. Upstream News reviewed live footage posted by netizens, which showed Stephen Shore addressing the audience through a translator. Excuse me, I need to interrupt and apologize, because what I'm about to say may be a little offensive. Shore continued through the translator. Since I'm talking about the topic of attention right now, and you know that I'm discussing the importance of attention, I think you should understand how crucial it is in daily life. However, I noticed that many of you have been looking at your phones throughout the lecture. You came here today, yet you can't focus. So how can you care about what you eat, or the feeling of the sun on your skin? Let's end here today, that's enough. He then walked off the podium and returned to the audience. The host later commented from the podium, Today, Mr. Shore's lecture conveyed the most important message, concentrate, concentrate, concentrate. Public records show that Stephen Shore has been the director of the photography department at Bard College since 1982. His works have been exhibited in many prominent galleries, and he has published over 30 photography books. Iron Rice Bowl rusts as four Chinese banks lay off over 4,000 people. China's economy is in serious decline, and the banking industry, once known as the Iron Rice Bowl, is facing a dilemma of salary cuts and layoffs. Recently, many banks released financial reports, revealing that four banks laid off more than 4,000 people in the first half of the year. As of August 20th, financial reports released by several listed banks, including Nanjing Bank, Ping'an Bank, Pudong Development Bank, and Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank, showed that many banks not only saw a decline in revenue, but also implemented salary cuts and layoffs. According to statistics from Oriental Fortune Choice, four banks, Nanjing Bank, Ping'an Bank, Pudong Development Bank, and Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank, laid off as many as 4,116 people in the first half of the year. American economist David Huang stated, In the past decade, China's banks have been overdeveloped because more than a decade ago, China sought to emulate the financialization of the United States to dominate the world. Now, this unchecked growth has hit reality, forcing a contraction when it proves unsustainable. This is the first reason. Among the four banks, Ping'an Bank laid off the most employees. The bank's latest total number of employees is 40,130, down from 43,418 at the end of last year, with 2,289 people losing their jobs, representing a layoff rate of 5.6%. David Huang added, The second reason is that the management model of Chinese banks is more bureaucratic, leading to inefficiencies in profitability, risk management, and overall system management. Now that the economy is down, these existing issues are becoming increasingly prominent. These leaders are unwilling to resign or reduce their salaries, so they are forced to start with staff layoffs. Pudong Development Bank laid off 1,663 employees in the first half of the year, reducing its workforce from 60,706 at the beginning of the year to 59,043 by mid-year, with an overall layoff rate of about 2.7%. In the past year, the bank's employee expenses fell from RMB 13.729 billion to RMB 13,640 billion. Seven months ago, China Construction Bank, one of China's four major state-owned joint-stock commercial banks, also reported salary cuts. Mainland media quoted relevant people from CCB as saying that the bank is comprehensively promoting salary adjustments, which not only cover the functional departments of the head office, but also extend to the subsidiaries under the group. The average salary of head office staff has dropped by slightly more than 10%. The financial industry was once referred to as the Golden Rice Bowl or Iron Rice Bowl. With the recession of China's economy, more banks have gone bankrupt or been merged and reorganized. David Huang commented, bank layoffs and salary cuts, along with the dissolution of small and medium-sized banks, indicate that China's entire financial system has grown too wildly over the past decade, especially in the development of financial services, including banks and securities companies. The next downfall could be in the securities companies. The latest data released by the State Administration of Financial Supervision of the Communist Party of China shows that at least 50 small and medium-sized banks in China have been dissolved since the beginning of this year, most of which are rural small and medium-sized banks. David Huang stated, this has a huge impact on the lives of ordinary people, as the bankruptcy of these banks often means that the savings of depositors over the past few decades could be lost. Foreign investors are even more worried because China's financial systemic risks are crucial to the overall investment environment. According to incomplete statistics from the State Administration of Financial Supervision of the Communist Party of China, as of July 25th this year, nearly 1,500 bank branches have closed down. A wave of bankruptcies has broken out. Just one secondhand dealer has acquired 42 stores in just one month. Data shows that in the first half of this year, more than 1 million catering companies have closed down nationwide, which is equivalent to the total number last year. In previous years, the catering industry experienced its peak season from summer vacation to National Day. But after May Day this year, a large number of catering stores closed down one after another. Notably, the number of longstanding and large catering stores that have been in business for more than 10 years has increased significantly. A restaurant with an investment of more than 1 million yuan in Haidian District, Beijing, closed down again today. The restaurant, which opened near the university town and was well-decorated, still had to close. Ultimately, it's because students prefer cost-effective, good quality, and inexpensive restaurants. So the prices of restaurants with better decor and a higher grade inevitably increase. In the fierce competition, hotpot restaurants are facing particularly tough times. By the end of 2023, there were 410,000 hotpot restaurants nationwide. But by the end of July 2024, this number had decreased to 400,000, a reduction of nearly 10,000 in just half a year. Many hotpot restaurants are poorly managed and suffer heavy losses. Although tea, coffee, and other highly standardized categories have always been favored by entrepreneurs. Their growth this year is also slowing down. Bakeries too face challenges. The low entry threshold has led to a surge of new entrants, but the number of bankruptcies has also increased. With the deteriorating economic environment, new changes have emerged in the luxury hotel market. More and more high-end hotels are facing ownership changes. Recently, there have been many reports of luxury hotel transfers or auctions across various locations. Take Beijing as an example. The Sofitel Beijing Hotel, located in the city center, is listed for sale at a price of 2.8 billion yuan. The hotel has a prime location, only four kilometers from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, but the property owner has to transfer it due to debt pressure. This situation is not unique to Beijing. Similar stories are unfolding across the country. A high-end restaurant with an investment of more than 1.6 million yuan has also closed down. It's now a second-hand market. Today, we took over another very high-end restaurant in Hebei District, Tianjin. All the equipment is top-notch, very high-end, and incredibly high-end. The only difference is that the boss has to pay the price. It's so painful. I feel sorry for the boss. The outside world has also noticed that in the past two years, the recycling of second-hand kitchenware has gradually become a new trend. What is second-hand kitchenware? Simply put, it's the kitchen equipment used in restaurants or snack bars that are now being resold, similar to the second-hand car market. Many second-hand equipment recyclers were originally involved in the catering industry, but later switched to equipment recycling and found it less risky and more profitable. For example, there are two bosses in Shanghai who specialize in recycling second-hand tableware. Their warehouse is 4,000 square meters filled with various second-hand tableware and equipment, including ice cream machines, display cabinets, six-door refrigerators, et cetera, imported from Japan. The price of new machines is very high. For example, a new ice cream machine costs 50,000 to 60,000 yuan, while a second-hand one sells for only 10,000 yuan, which is 20% of the original price. The recycling price of this equipment is also very low. An ice cream machine may only cost a few thousand yuan. The new price of a display cabinet is about 20,000 yuan, while a second-hand one sells for only 6,000 to 7,000 yuan, and the recycling price is only 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. This store was only open for 20 days and lost 500,000 yuan. This is the most regrettable store I have ever been involved in recycling. According to the boss, all kinds of unused goods are for sale at low prices in the store, including electric fans, electronic scales, chopping boards, tables, backrest chairs, et cetera. There are also some large items, and the prices are very favorable. It is reported that due to the sluggish consumer market, the customer flow in shopping malls has decreased significantly. Due to sluggish business, these restaurant owners can't even pay rent and utility bills, and the equipment is locked by the property. In the end, they can only contact equipment recyclers to handle it. The catering industry in Beijing is not much better. Industry insiders revealed that within just one month, he had taken over 42 hot pot restaurants in Beijing, setting a record. Last year, he mostly took over ordinary brand hot pot restaurants, but this year, franchise stores have become the main force. Another recycling boss said that he had taken over more than 20 different types of restaurants in one month. It is evident that the reasons for the closure of these stores vary. For example, a vegetarian noodle restaurant opened by a post-90s girl, and her friend had to close in less than a year due to high rent. There's also a Western restaurant opened by a company executive with an investment of 2 million yuan, where all the equipment had been used for less than three months. In the end, it was a mess, and no one cleaned it up. By purchasing and reselling secondhand equipment at low prices, not only is the cost of starting a business reduced, but it also provides more opportunities for people to enter the catering industry. This trend is particularly evident during economic downturns.