Hello Steem Blockchain!

According to a Forbes article, China produces and consumes 60% of the world's cement. In other words, they used more cement in 3 years than the USA used in the entire 20th century! (McCarthy 2014)

China is developing like crazy. Some may say it's overkill, while others think it must be done to accommodate the influx of rural residents that will be moving to the cities. China has ambitious plans to develop the whole country and make it into a powerhouse. What the means is that power must be distributed around the country; not just in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing. As a result, cities are competing with each other to develop an attractive city that people can live and work in. Modern housing, facilities and businesses are needed to sustain this growth and with all that growth comes a whole lot of construction.

Noise pollution is something that you will need to get used to if you plan on visiting or living in China. You have to expect noise from cars, trucks, cranes, drills, etc. If you want to see insane development projects, come to China and you will see for yourself. Everywhere you go, new buildings and facilities are being constructed at a rapid pace. People that leave the country and then come back a few years later can't even recognize the city anymore.

There are so many apartment complexes. With all of them built side by side, they look like a huge wall. Also, you will find that the buildings in these complexes look identical. It's a little odd to see 10-20 of the exact same building in a single space.

I was filming this video on the rooftop of my apartment and all you can hear are the sounds of construction. There were drills, trucks, cranes and welders all hard at work trying to meet strict deadlines. Beside my apartment were a number of workers that were installing the new sewage pipes for the area. A a short distance away were builders making the foundation for yet another apartment building.

On my side of the fence was another trough that had a bunch of tubing laying around. I presume these tubes are for supply water. In fact, the gate of my school was demolished in order to make it narrower so that the newly built road on the other side could be made wider. After the road was built, they rebuilt the gate so they probably had to relocate the water supply to a new spot, hence the trough with the tubing.

It's just crazy at how fast things get done in this country. They can create entire cities and districts faster than people can move into them. The government has so much power and that can be a benefit or a disadvantage. It's a positive thing because that means projects can be approved and completed quickly. It's a negative because projects may not meet adequate standards or construction could infringe on someone else's rights. It's tough to debate something like this, but it is definitely something I can appreciate since it takes Canada forever to do anything. China can build vast networks of high speed rails and subways, meaning Toronto has been discussing adding a couple new lines to our outdated subway system for years and eventually it got canceled.

Besides the low cost of living, awesome food and low stress lifestyle, living in a country that is so hectic and constantly developing is both exciting and irritating at times.

I'll probably make another post and video in the future about how fast China can get something done!

That's all for now. I hope you learned something new about China today!

Thanks for reading & watching!