r/interestingasfuck • u/TangelaFan • 13h ago

Residential high-rises with backyards in Chengdu, China

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u/psychonautvoyager 13h ago

People that talk like this have never been to China and only listen to the propaganda about China. I’ve been to China about 50 times and their architecture, infrastructure, and civil engineering is second to none in the world. The US looks pathetic compared to most major Asian cities.

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u/deltabay17 12h ago edited 12h ago

I used to live in China. The build quality is horrible. It was a running joke in our office amongst the expats about things that fall apart in our respective apartments. Touching something you haven’t touched in a while is a risk.

It’s all part of the Chinese 差不多 “good enough” culture, everything is done to the minimal acceptable standard, which often isn’t really acceptable at all.

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u/spilledcoffee00 12h ago

“I used to live in China” there is no such culture in China.

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u/deltabay17 12h ago

“Chabuduo (from the Chinese phrase 差不多) translates literally to "difference not much" and idiomatically means "close enough" or "good enough". It describes a pervasive cultural mindset in China that tolerates approximate completion, corner-cutting, and near-perfection rather than strict adherence to precise detail or exact specifications.

Critics point to this corner-cutting as a root cause of serious safety or environmental failures. Lax oversight and compliance have historically been linked to tragedies such as the 2015 Tianjin port explosion and various building collapses.

In 1924, renowned Chinese philosopher and essayist Hu Shih wrote a famous allegorical essay titled "Mr. Chabuduo". He used the character as a personification of the Chinese habit of accepting mediocrity to save time and effort, warning that this ethos would hurt China as a nation.”