China Apocalypse: 13 Earthquakes, Deadly Dam Breach, Tornadoes & Hailstorms!

Xi's $10 billion mega-canal collapses. Just weeks after opening floods exposed tofu-dreg construction everywhere, thousands of towers, bridges, dams torn apart. China rocked by cascade of disasters, 13 earthquakes in days. Deadly dam, breached tornadoes, and violent hailstorms leave the whole nation in ruins. Hard times in China, Tier 1 cities ruined, overseas graduates taking warehouse jobs as unemployment spreads across cities. One billion people, but zero wins. China's sports decline accelerates table tennis and soccer empires crumble. Xi Jinping's risky double game frees a pastor one day, fires a missile that can hit America the next. Welcome to Red Wall, where we examine major world events with clarity, context and thoughtful analysis. Xi's $10 billion mega-canal collapses. Just weeks after opening floods exposed tofu-dreg construction everywhere, thousands of towers, bridges, dams torn apart. A video from a construction site in Yuncheng, Shanxi showed debris flying like snowflakes in strong wind. The company claimed the material was lightweight and no one was hurt. Commenters asked if the structure was made of paper and joked that turning waste into such a spectacle showed real skill. In China, scenes like this are often real, not AI-generated. On the night of July 6th, remnants of Typhoon Maysak brought tornadoes to Huanggang and nearby areas in Hubei. Metal roofs on vegetable markets were ripped off and hurled onto cars. In high-rise apartment complexes, windows were blown out completely, leaving broken glass and torn curtains across living rooms. Residents posted videos asking who was responsible. Recently, videos showed sections of the Pinglu Canal in Guangxi suffering serious collapses along the embankment and high slopes between Hangzhou and Qingzhou. One stretch had a gap several meters long where water was pouring through. Other footage captured multiple slope failures on the Zhouzhou-Qingsong section. The canal had only begun carrying water throughout its full length on June 3rd and was still in the testing phase ahead of its planned September opening. The project, billed as a century project, costing around 72.7 billion yuan, about 10.7 billion U.S. dollars. The collapses came right after heavy rainfall and flooding hit the region. In Qingzhou, streets were submerged, vehicles were swept away, and large areas of shrimp ponds and farmland were destroyed. Residents said flooding had worsened over the past two years while the canal was under construction. A magnitude 5 earthquake struck Sichuan on July 8th with a shallow focus and several aftershocks. In yeeping buildings cracked severely, walls shifted, and load-bearing columns fractured. Residents described ceilings, walls, and beams splitting open. Exposed thin steel bars and piles of broken concrete suggested shortcuts during construction. The area sits near the Huashan Fault Zone where stricter seismic standards should apply. Yet one moderate quake left homes dangerous and families sleepless with fear. Flooding in Guangxi revealed more failures. A rural bridge in Guigang collapsed under raging water. In Nanning, floodwaters destroyed part of a railway embankment. A power transmission tower in Binyang County was torn from its foundation. The worst came in Hangzhou where multiple reservoirs breached. The Liulan Reservoir Dam built in 1958 during the Great Leap Forward as a typical earth structure failed along a 50-meter section despite more than 400 million yuan spent on recent upgrades. Officials had called it a model project with new monitoring systems after concrete anti-seepage walls were added. One year later, the cosmetic repairs offered no protection. Commenters noted it was going to collapse before the renovation and still collapsed after. Questions about where the money went followed quickly. In Xi'an, a heavy rainstorm on July 5th flooded the newly opened East Railway Station just six days after its June 30th debut. The station was built as a showcase for the Chinese Communist Party's anniversary and the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan. Underground parking filled with water roads were impassable and construction barriers collapsed. One commenter asked if the barriers were made of paper. Last year, Xi'an Xianyang International Airport Terminal 5 suffered indoor flooding three months after opening. Water poured from the ceiling like a waterfall. Officials blamed hail-blocked drains, but passengers had already filmed gaps in ceiling panels before the storm. Why do shoddy construction projects continue to appear despite the advanced technology we have today? Critics argue that the answer lies in the systemic problem within China's infrastructure construction sector. First, the culture of prioritizing speed and appearances above all else. In many regions, large infrastructure projects are closely tied to officials' performance evaluations. In order to complete projects and hold ribbon-cutting ceremonies by specific deadlines, construction is often forced into a frantic state of working backward from the deadline. Scientific construction procedures are ignored. Complicated but necessary quality inspections are simplified or even skipped. Second layers of subcontracting and extreme profit squeezing. A project can pass through several or even more than 10 layers of subcontractors from the original contractor that wins the bid to the actual workers who carry out the construction. Each layer takes a substantial management fee and profit margin. By the time the construction funds finally reach the lowest level, contractors, very little money remains. To protect their profits, these contractors often cut corners on materials and workmanship, using inferior substitutes, reducing materials, replacing cement with expanding foam, lowering steel reinforcement density, and using low-quality aluminum alloy products. Third, ineffective supervision and corruption fueled by money and power exchanges. Fourth, the lack of an effective accountability system after failures occur. Many shoddy projects can pass unnoticed after completion, as long as they don't cause major accidents. But when problems are exposed during natural disasters, official explanations often tend to blame once-in-a-century extreme weather or rare natural disasters, allowing human negligence to be hidden behind natural causes. As long as there are no large-scale casualties, those responsible for construction contracting and supervision never really face punishment. This further encourages a mentality of taking risks. Natural disasters are ruthless, but they are far less frightening than shoddy construction projects hidden in plain sight, capable of taking lives at any moment. China rocked by cascade of disasters. Thirteen earthquakes in days. Deadly dam, breached tornadoes, and violent hailstorms leave the whole nation in ruins. Entering July, China has faced one natural disaster after another. In Geoxian County, Yibin City, Sichuan Province, 13 earthquakes struck within just two days. On the morning of July 9th, a magnitude 4.8 quake hit the area at a depth of 6 kilometers, followed by a magnitude 5.1 and another 3.2. Earlier on July 8th, the region recorded 10 quakes, including two that reached magnitude 5. Residents in Yibin described constant shaking that left them dizzy and anxious. Many rushed outside in pajamas as buildings swayed violently. Cracks appeared in walls, tiles fell, and people on upper floors said the motion felt like being on a swing. Tremors were felt as far as Chengdu and Chongqing. Before the quakes, locals reported strange signs, birds flying in confusion, fish jumping out of water in unusual clouds. After one quake, the water in a small stream in Yibin suddenly turned red. Local authorities have not explained the change. Some residents wondered whether the frequent tremors could be connected to shale gas development in the area. Yibin's Changning, Gongxian, and Xinguan counties form part of a national shale gas demonstration zone. Studies from both China and the United States have shown that hydraulic fracturing and wastewater injection can trigger earthquakes under certain conditions. At the same time, extreme weather has struck multiple provinces. Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, and Shandong were hit by thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail. In parts of Henan, wind speeds reached typhoon levels. In Hebei, hailstones, the size of goose eggs, fell in Handan, Xintai, and Xijiazhuang. One member of the Chinese Writers' Association posted that it was the first time he had seen hail this violent. Similar hailstorms hit Shaanxi, with stones as large as an adult's fist damaging vehicles and crops. Earlier in Beijing and Hebei, layers of ice covered the ground after strong winds and hail. On July 6, a rare tornado struck Huanggang in Hebei province. Winds exceeded level 15 and left several towns in ruins, with many people even being swept away. Official reports said the disaster affected 14,600 people, killed 11, and left one missing. Aerial images showed scenes that looked like a war zone. On July 7, in Longnengansu, a landslide buried 33 people who were hiking for work. Authorities later said 21 were killed and 12 were rescued. Flooding has continued across southern China. In particular, the Liulan Reservoir Dam in Guangxi suffered a major breach. Two sections totaling about 50 meters collapsed, sending floodwaters into nearby villages. Residents said they received no evacuation notice until the morning of the disaster. Even though the reservoir gates were opened early, many houses were washed away. By July 9, authorities reported 26 deaths and seven missing in the Nanning area from this incident, with totals across Guangxi reaching 39 dead and nine missing. A nearby snake farm was destroyed, releasing hundreds of snakes into the area. Some trapped residents were bitten and a few cases were fatal. Critics have pointed out longstanding problems with China's dams. Most are earth and rock fill structures, many built before 1979, using mass mobilization methods from earlier decades. Nearly half are now more than 50 years old. Water resources expert Wang Weiluo said the disasters have exposed weaknesses in reservoir safety flood management and information transparency. He called for a full review of official disaster reporting and water project safety. Instead of focusing on rescue, some local notices in Hengzhou, Guangxi instructed residents to report any foreign reporters entering villages and to refuse interviews to avoid smearing China. Requests for help on social media were reportedly deleted quickly. Meanwhile, the Chinese government announced another Some online asked why domestic flood victims in Guangxi were left to fend for themselves while money went overseas. On July 9, Xi Jinping and Premier Li Chang issued instructions calling for all-out rescue efforts. Commentator Mei-Lin Shuang said such statements amount to little when people have lost homes or lives. She argued that the leadership's refusal to reflect on deeper causes, including aging infrastructure from earlier political campaigns and a system that prioritizes control over transparency means the same problems will keep recurring. In her view, the pattern of disasters combined with information restrictions and slow official response has left many people not only dealing with physical damage, but also with growing fear and distrust. Hard times in China, Tier 1 cities ruined, overseas graduates taking warehouse jobs as unemployment spreads across cities. A wave of unemployment has hit China hard, and overseas returnees with advanced degrees are among the worst affected. One woman from Shaanxi who ranked ninth in the provincial college entrance exam, graduated from Peking University, and later earned a master's degree from a top UK university has been unable to find work for two years. Companies have offered her as little as 1,600 yuan a month. In one interview, she was told the salary would be between 8,000 and 13,000 yuan. But after she passed the written test, the offer dropped to 3,000 yuan. Her family had spent heavily on her overseas education with annual tuition reportedly exceeding 200,000 yuan. Another UK master's graduate, 24-year-old Liu Jing, who studied fashion management at the University of Leeds, originally planned to build a career in Britain. After struggling to compete with local graduates, she returned to China and eventually took a job moving and packing goods in a logistics warehouse in Zhejiang. She sends out resumes to foreign trade companies, but receives almost no responses. Employers now want practical skills in supply chains and e-commerce, rather than academic qualifications alone. These cases reflect a broader collapse in the value of higher education. With China's economy weakening, companies are shutting down or cutting staff. Official figures show flexible employment has exceeded 300 million people, meaning more than 40% of the roughly 725 million employed population lack stable long-term jobs. Young graduates face intense competition. This summer, 12.7 million new university graduates are entering the market alongside previous cohorts still looking for work. In ride-hailing and delivery platforms, drivers in cities like Shanghai and Luoyang often see messages that there are too many drivers and they must wait in line. Surveys indicate 77% of ride-hailing drivers took these jobs after losing previous employment, and many are the main breadwinners in their families. Transport regulators in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Sanya have warned that the market is saturated. Drivers work more than 11 hours a day, but complete fewer than 10 trips on average, sharply cutting their income. Middle-aged workers are also struggling. A 43-year-old man searched for nearly a month before finding a job cutting vegetables, only to be told after one day that he was too slow. A former general manager who once handled luxury villa projects worth 17 million yuan is now asking recruiters for a base salary of 4,000 yuan while still carrying a mortgage and supporting two school-aged children. In interviews, he repeatedly says he will accept overtime and whatever conditions are offered. As degrees lose their worth, vocational schools have become overcrowded. At the Baoding Vocational Education Center in Hebei, only 1,200 enrollment slots were available this year, while 68,000 junior high graduates competed for them. Parents lined up overnight, and reports described fights and stampedes that required police intervention. Many college graduates are also returning to vocational programs to learn practical skills. Enrollment in skilled technician courses across several provinces has risen more than 35% in three years. Behind these personal stories lies a wider economic contraction. More than 300 small and medium-sized banks reportedly closed in 2025. Major Internet companies, including Alibaba, Baidu, and JD.com, have laid off around 130,000 workers in the past year and a half. The construction sector lost 7.62 million jobs last year, a drop of nearly 13%. The food and beverage industry saw a 22.7% closure rate nationwide and 35% in first-tier cities, with more than 3 million restaurants shutting down. Authorities have responded by organizing large job fairs offering millions of positions, but many of these are temporary or low-paying. Scholars who publicly discuss the economic difficulties have faced restrictions. Former Tsinghua Associate Professor Zheng Yuhuang was taken for questioning by police after a June lecture in which he described the macroeconomy as pessimistic and suggested the downturn could last 20 to 30 years. His social media accounts were suspended shortly afterward. Similar pressure has been reported on other economists who questioned official data. The result is a growing population of people in unstable gig work or outright unemployment, many of whom no longer appear in official statistics. In major cities, markets for day labor are crowded with middle-aged and older migrant workers, some reportedly selling blood to survive. Homeless populations have appeared under overpasses and in public parks, while officials promote flexible employment as a solution. The reality for millions is a daily struggle to find any stable income in an economy that continues to shrink opportunities rather than create them. China's sports decline accelerates table tennis and soccer empires crumble. China's once-dominant table tennis program suffered one of its worst setbacks in years at the World Table Tennis U.S.E. Smash in Los Angeles on July 3. All Chinese men's singles players were eliminated in the round of 16. The defending champion and top seed lost 1-3 to Denmark's Anders Lind. The last Chinese player left, Lin Shidong, was then swept 0-3 by France's Alexis LeBron. No Chinese men reached the quarterfinals. Lind later said he was not even sure how he won. The comment triggered widespread discussion inside China. Analysts pointed to a technical problem. European players have moved toward more varied and flexible styles, while China's men's game still relies heavily on speed and raw power. That approach has become easier to read and counter. Overseas observers went further. Some said the decline is accelerating and linked it to broader problems, including economic slowdown, corruption inside the sports system, and a lack of real mass participation. One comment noted that students now study more than 16 hours a day and asked how a strong sports nation can exist without widespread sports culture. Talent has been leaving the system for years. Dozens of Chinese-born players and coaches now represent other countries. European leagues have also drawn Chinese talent for short-term play. At the same time, long-standing corruption allegations have shadowed the table tennis association similar to those that hit soccer. In April 2025, Liu Guoliang stepped down as president after years in charge. He cited the need to prepare for the next Olympic cycle and the desire to spend more time with family. Later rumors that he had been detained were denied by the association. Wang Likun took over and introduced reforms, including longer seasons for the Super League and stricter centralized training. Yet poor results in early 2026 events, including the Zagreb stop, have increased criticism of the new leadership. Men's basketball has followed a similar downward path. On July 3rd in Shen Yun, China, lost 73-92 to Japan in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers. Japan's second team dominated the home game. Soccer remains the clearest symbol of long-term failure. China has not returned to the World Cup since qualifying once in 2002. On September 5th, 2024, the team lost 0-7 to Japan in World Cup qualifying. Japan continues to perform strongly in Asia, while China has fallen to a lower tier. During Japan's 4-0 win over Tunisia at the 2026 World Cup, some Chinese fans openly cheered for Japan and called the team the light of Asia. State media and online stability campaigns have tried to frame such support as politically sensitive. Overseas Chinese commentators pushed back, saying that admiring good soccer should not be treated as a threat to national dignity. Linking every sporting judgment to politics they argued only makes fans feel more suffocated. The problems run deeper than any single sport. China's sports system remains tightly centralized and heavily politicized. Elite athletes receive major state funding, yet public sports facilities and mass participation receive almost nothing. Scholars and former insiders describe a medal-driven model that extracts results from a small group of athletes who begin intensive training very young. Many others lose their youth and suffer long-term injuries. Estimates have put the cost of each Olympic gold medal at around 700 million yuan money ultimately paid by taxpayers. At the same time, national teams must attend repeated study sessions on Xi Jinping thought and party leadership requirements have been strengthened across sports associations. Former national team doctor Zhuo Yingshan and others have alleged that athletes were given long-term iron supplements contraceptives to control menstrual cycles and hormone treatments. These practices, they said, caused both physical and mental harm to athletes, including Li Ningdeng Yaping and Lu Xiang. The combination of political pressure corruption, risks limited grassroots development, and a culture that rewards short-term results over sustainable systems has produced repeated setbacks. Soccer, basketball, and now even table tennis are showing the same pattern. A system built for political display and medal counts is struggling to deliver consistent excellence on the international stage. Xi Jinping's risky double game, Freeze a Pastor One Day, fires a missile that can hit America the next. On July 6th, Chinese state media announced that the People's Liberation Army Navy had launched a JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine into the Pacific Ocean. The missile, capable of carrying nuclear warheads and reaching up to 12,000 kilometers, can strike the U.S. mainland directly. Beijing claimed the test was not directed at any specific country. Just one day earlier, on July 5th, the regime released Pastor Jin Mingri of Beijing's Underground Zion Church, a prominent Christian leader long persecuted by authorities and personally mentioned by President Trump in talks with Xi Jinping. The timing was no coincidence. One day, the CCP offered what looked like a goodwill gesture. The next day, it displayed raw nuclear power. This pattern of releasing a prisoner while testing a weapon that threatens American cities follows the regime's longstanding tactic of combining hard and soft methods, or, as critics put it, hiding a dagger behind a smile. The soft hand was the release of Pastor Jin Mingri on the eve of America's Independence Day. Beijing presented it as a favor to President Trump, signaling that it could be a reasonable negotiating partner if Washington was willing to strike a deal. The hard hand came the following day with the JL-3 launch. The message was clear refuse to play by Beijing's transactional rules on Taiwan, and the regime has the means to escalate to mutual destruction. Behind the missile test, however, lie three serious problems the CCP is desperate to hide. First, a small aircraft recently crashed into the CITIC tower in central Beijing, just steps from Zhongnanhai. In a capital supposedly sealed against any threat, this incident was treated as a possible terrorist attack, or even the sign of internal unrest. Senior leaders were reportedly alarmed. The JL-3 test served as a convenient distraction to shift international attention away from this breach of internal security. Second, Xi Jinping's sweeping purge of the PLA's top officers has left the military weakened and exposed. Defense ministers, rocket force commanders, and Navy leaders have been removed. When U.S. forces easily defeated Chinese-made air defense systems in operations against Venezuela and Iran, the embarrassment was public. The missile test was partly staged to restore face ahead of Army Day and to strengthen Xi's position before next year's party congress. Third, the launch fits into Beijing's broader plan for a Taiwan Strait conflict. The JL-3 gives China a credible nuclear second strike capability from hidden submarines. The strategy is not to start an all-out nuclear war with the United States. Instead, Beijing wants to create a balance of terror, launch a conventional attack on Taiwan, use the threat of nuclear retaliation to stop Washington from using tactical nuclear weapons, and then, once the fighting reaches a costly stalemate, use nuclear intimidation to force the U.S. to the negotiating table and accept Taiwan's absorption. The test itself revealed diplomatic hypocrisy. The missile was fired from the Bohai Gulf, flew over Japan, and landed in the South Pacific, inside the very nuclear-free zone the CCP had previously claimed to support. Japan, Australia, and New Zealand protested. Far from scaring U.S. allies into submission, the launch has pushed them to strengthen defense cooperation along the first island chain. Every move, the prisoner release and the missile test, comes from a regime facing serious internal problems and economic pressure. The smiling gesture and the nuclear threat are two sides of the same desperate strategy. For Taiwan and its partners, the lesson is straightforward. The CCP's friendly face is meant to encourage concessions, while its missiles are meant to force them. Only clear-eyed recognition of this pattern and steady defensive strength can protect the region from the risks ahead. We value your perspective. Let us know your thoughts in the comments. If you found this report meaningful, please share it with others. Your support helps us continue delivering independent, fact-based analysis on global affairs. Subscribe and like to stay informed with Redwall. Thank you for watching.