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Extreme Construction

China likes to participate in its own version of X-Treme Sports: X-Treme Construction!! Where in the States, you might see one crane at a construction site, in Beijing, 4 is common and 6 to 8 is not unusual. You see, here in China, if a worker gets injured, they aren't going to sue anyone. Or if they do sue AND win, the amount that they win is laughable compared to what one would get in the States for pouring hot coffee on their lap at McDonalds. So if it wasn't for the cost of insurance, the US would use more cranes too. But the quality of the job would still be different.

The big risk activity though has to be welding without masks. Does the worker build up gradually to blindness, or is today the day that the molten slag flies back up in his eyes blinding him instantly? To be fair, I have noticed an increase in the number of masks being employed lately.

It's amazing how fast a structure can build up seemingly overnight. (They do work 24 hrs here) One day you're remarking on how they moved all the dirt from a vacant lot to the vacant lot across the street for no apparent reason. The next day the club house for a new luxury villa compound has been built. The following week, it's abandonded because there are already hundreds of unoccupied luxury villas in Beijing and the developer has gone bankrupt. Then the squatters move in. One of them had to have been the original developer.

Actually the first sign of impending construction here is a wall. As son as a vacant lot is surronded by a wall, construction may begin. You may not see what we are doing. It is exciting and mysterious. Luxury Villa. Luxury Apartments. Luxury Shopping. As soon as the wall is completed, Westerner speculation begins. I heard they were going to put a McDonalds out here. I heard it was going to be a Carrefour. I heard it was going to be China's first Target. -If China ever did get a Target, I think I would cry. I love Target. But I've seen what Walmart is here. It's not the same as a US Walmart. So I don't think I could stand to see what they would do to Target.- Anyhoo, walls mean change is a-comin'.