Implosion, Chinese Style

It’s time for a new building. How do you get that pesky old one out of the way? It’s simple. You call in your work crew, give them mallets, and tell them to begin pounding.

Mallets start swinging. Bang! Bang! Bang! Floor by floor, the building comes down with people power and hard labor. There are no wrecking balls, wheel loaders, or other heavy equipment. Men and women start on the top floor and work down, smashing each floor one by one. Other workers fill baskets with debris, swing the baskets onto their backs, haul the pieces down the stairs, empty the baskets and head back for the stairs. I’m convinced that Chinese workers are like ants that can carry loads many times their body weight. Efficiency rules; in two days, this building was half gone. 

With the world’s largest population of 1.3 billion people, China has no shortage of people for jobs. Why implode a building with explosives when people need jobs to survive?

SIDEBAR: The U.S. population is 313 million people. Do the math. China has one billion more people. Just think about all the implications of such a massive population.

Safety regulations are non-existent in China. Workers have zero protection. Concrete dust clouds the air, but no one wears a mask. Hard hats are rare. In fact, if you look closely at the second picture, top left, you will see a hard hat … hanging from a pole, not sitting on someone’s head. This building isn’t fenced off. Common sense must be your guide to safety in China. If you don’t want to get hit by falling concrete chunks, don’t walk near this building. I could easily scramble up a remaining staircase to get a closer view, even when workers are pounding away. No one would stop me.