r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/rapatakaz • 1d ago

Video China is completing the construction of the tallest bridge in the world, which runs through the Grand Huajiang Canyon. The 2,890-meter-long steel suspension bridge rises 625 meters above sea level

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

35.4k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

233 comments sorted by

View all comments

2.6k

u/Harpeski 1d ago

China is like the USA in the roaring 60's: massive infrastructure investment for the future welfare/citizens and industry.

Meanwhile in every western society the infrastructure starts to crumble, because its 80y old. And no investment are made, because of 'no money'

979

u/Menkhal 1d ago

Not every western society. Here in Spain we have built one of the most extensive high-speed rail systems in the world during the last 30 years. Still being expanded. Same regarding highways.

Just like it's happening right now on eastern Europe using EU funded projects. Poland for example has made an amazing use of them. And in general public infrastructure is top notch in all of western europe.

I think the crumbling of infraestructure is mostly a US phenomenon. And the railroad in the UK is also in shambles. And i believe in both cases the root of that decay is in the neoliberalism wave both countries suffered with Thatcher and Reagan, with the damage they did still echoing today.

845

u/SaltyWailord 1d ago

Nail on head.

You have to hand it to them, they seem to invest money in building a more efficient future. The development of high speed trains and high rises is nothing but astounding

526

u/aronenark 1d ago edited 1d ago

China poured more concrete in 3 years from 2011 to 2013 than the United States did in the entire 20th century, and did it again in only 2 years from 2020 to 2021. The number of high rise buildings in Shanghai is estimated to have passed 10,000.

302

u/HouseOf42 1d ago

Most of those buildings are empty, and just recently most of a ghost city was leveled because of half finished buildings.

They may pour a lot of concrete, and it's holding up nothing but empty promises and tofu dredge crutches.

-212

u/jml2422 1d ago

Half of them are empty. Communism never works.

161

u/Ok_Poetry_1650 1d ago

Sounds like affordable rent for once.

143

u/philomathie 1d ago

Seems to be working a damn sight better than America right now, just saying.

-72

u/VoidRad 1d ago

It really isn't. Lots of empty houses mean lots of houses that aren't being sold. That's an insane amount of debt that is bound to affect the economy.

103

u/Valid-Nite 1d ago

A large part of that is due to very low safety, payment, no unions, no years of approvals through many levels. There’s a reason so many things collapse in china.

104

u/deLamartine 1d ago

Because they have no social welfare whatsoever. Large parts of the population are still living in poverty. It’s easy to spend on megaprojects when you’re not spending on the welfare of your population at all.

189

u/Menkhal 1d ago

You say that, but chinese people quality of life has improved non stop for the last decades. Much better quality of life, and their life expectancy has actually already surpassed that of the USA.

64

u/Xsiah 1d ago

If you don't say anything bad about the government

64

u/Voltthrower69 1d ago

The no money just follows straight up to the top 1% of wealthy people who just laugh as everyone is forced to accept declining standards of living.

103

u/StaysAwakeAllWeek 1d ago

Except the infrastructure China is investing in now is shockingly wasteful. They've already built out more than enough infrastructure for their population and economy and now it's building for the sake of building, all the while facing down a future shrinking population instead of a growing one.

The first suspension bridge across a river adds enormous value to your economy. The second adds a little less. The eleventh probably wasn't worth the billions you borrowed to build it.

53

u/Citaku357 1d ago

China is like the USA in the roaring 60's: massive infrastructure investment for the future welfare/citizens and industry.

Isn't China investing more in infrastructure now than America did for all of its existence?

85

u/Emo_tep 1d ago

Well it does have a lot more people

62

u/owen-87 1d ago

1960's safety standards too.

34

u/AnorhiDemarche 1d ago

Only with lower safety and construction standards and a bribery problem so rampant any part if those might not be followed (ex. steel may be compromised) and the people down the line will have no idea. Just look how many videos of structural failure manage to make it beyond the great firewall even though chinese internet is highly censored and monitored.

"If you can make money, make money", and if you can get propaganda out of it build like crazy.

9

u/Veiss76 1d ago

As long as it doesn't have the same standards that they used building in Myanmar... or anywhere else for that matter

7

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

-28

u/Ok-Imagination-2308 1d ago

A democracy in a country with over 1 billion people would not work

-18

u/Davecmartin 1d ago

India says hi

50

u/Bronze_Rager 1d ago

Indias not working lol

15

u/Jaidor84 1d ago

Is anywhere actually working?

The US is probably the most divided country in the world.

Existence is survival.

5

u/Adam-Marshall 1d ago

And the trains ran on time in the USSR.

SMH. So many idiots cucking for totalitarian governments.

-15

u/arrius01 1d ago

Nobody in the United States calls it the roaring '60s, I don't know where you're getting this phrase. China does appear to imagine that spending large money on concrete will make it globally admired, it will be fun watching them learn otherwise.

-9

u/JohnOlderman 1d ago

Yes roles have turned west is falling chinese long way of thinking has made them economic leaders for now

-10

u/sirgamesalot21 1d ago

It's a shame no one in China will be around to enjoy said future welfare. (I exaggerate but a lot of china will be deserted due to one child policy).