Especially tragic is the plight of so many schoolchildren, buried under collapsed school buildings. At least eight schools collapsed and at least 2,000 children are missing and feared dead. The tragedy is compounded by the fact that under China’s one-child policy many grieving families have lost their only child.

”I'll tell you why the school collapsed,” said an elderly man beside the ruins. ”It was shoddily built. Someone wanted to save money.” [The Standard, 15 May 2008]

Another man, whose only son was killed in the earthquake, said the collapse of the school building was a ”man made” disaster.

”Look, the pillars were filled with sand and mud, not cement. There is no concrete to support the iron bars. This is a typical tofu project,” the man told the South China Morning Post, using the common term for shoddy or defective building work.

...

__________________
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/...s-boycott.html

If you think that's bad, you should be an electronics technician and see what's lurking inside all those "Made in China" tv sets, DVD players, boomboxes, etc etc etc... but they look "pretty" on the outside.
I mean seriously, talk about SHODDY craftsmanship!!!!!
It's all about greed..

__________________
"Accept the fact that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue"

I'm sure their Olympic Village was built with reinforced concrete and steel......

The same was found in Turkey a few years back. Apparently the state funds a lot of the construction there and corrupt officials had decided buildings didn't need things like steel. that's why you should always trust your government, they are always looking out for you.
as for electronics, I bought a tv that was made in mexico from a Korean company ...but the quality of products is something people choose, building on the cheap costs people their lives. I'm not at all suprised. so, does this poster actually reside in china?

__________________
"You down wit OPM?"
Fumo: "Yeah, you know me!"

Wasn't there recent bridge collapse here in the US, on a normal day without an earthquake?

__________________
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people".

What did this reveal about the People's Republic that we didn't already know?

PS -- 王千源, you should include a link to the story where you got the quote.

Makes you wonder about all the McMansions being built in the suburbs. How much can they withstand?

Crappy products/quality in China??? How could that be?? After all, they've given us great lead toys, recalled toothpaste, deadly pet food, faulty tires, contaminated honey........

And the winner for most fragile commodity to come out of China is...

__________________
What's a newbold?

True..the only difference is that our infrastructure is crumbling old crap...theirs is collapsing new crap..