supercat
Colonel
Many of China's rural areas now look like the suburbs in the US.
China News Thread
- Thread starter KYli
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manqiangrexue
Brigadier
Wow frick, that looks really nice! Depending on how far that is from the city, that could be the best spot to be! Big, non-congested, within a reasonable drive to a metropolis/major business center! That's the best kind of housing situation you could hope for in the US and a while back, I was lamenting that China didn't have anything similar as it was all dirt floored village housing or ultra cramped city apartments.
Chemical plant explosion in Shandong. Will update on situation (deaths/injuries).
So far five dead, six missing, and 19 injured.
Shit, how long has this plant been in service?
Has the authority not checked and maintain the plant at all?
The company that runs this facility was established in 2019. The company has had numerous legal troubles in business and labour:
"企查查APP显示，山东友道化学有限公司成立于2019年8月，注册资本10亿元，由山东豪迈化学有限公司、山东泰益升化工有限公司共同持股。
该公司致力于农药、医药及相关精细化工中间体产品的连续流技术开发、生产、销售等。
据悉，该公司曾涉多起司法纠纷，案由包括侵害发明专利权纠纷、提供劳务者受害责任纠纷、劳务合同纠纷等。"
The facility must have been inspected regularly by the authorities as required by regulations and laws. But there are always chances of sloppy enforcement and/or cover-ups during the checks. Either way, now something has gone wrong, those who are found liable, including the business owners and the officials, will be punished for sure given the heavy fatalities.
Workplace safety has been inadequate in China. Business owners want to cut cost. Workers themselves at the same time often do not take the procedures seriously.
On the other hand, considering the sheer size of manufacturing in China, accidents are inevitable even just by chance. Hopefully automation can avoid injuries and deaths eventually.
I'm posting this because the photos are really telling how forceful the explosion was.
JINAN, May 27 (Xinhua) This photo taken on May 27, 2025 shows rescuers working at the explosion site of a chemical company in the city of Gaomi, east China's Shandong Province. An explosion occurred at the workshop of a chemical company in Gaomi at noon on Tuesday, with emergency response efforts currently underway, according to the municipal emergency management bureau. (Xinhua)
BEIJING (AP) — A huge explosion rocked a chemical plant in China ’s eastern Shandong province around noon Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring 19, according to local emergency management authorities. Another six people were missing.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.
The blast was powerful enough to knock out windows at a warehouse more than two miles (three kilometers) away, according to a video shared by a resident, who declined to give his name out of concern about retaliation.
The resident said his home shook. As he went to the window, he saw a column of smoke from the site more than seven kilometers (4.3 miles) away.
Gaomi Youdao Chemical Co. is located in an industrial park in the city of Weifang. It manufactures pesticides as well as chemicals for medical use, and has more than 500 employees, according to corporate registration records.
Local fire officials sent more than 230 personnel to the scene, according to state broadcaster China Central Television.
A student at a school about 1,000 yards away from the plant told state-run news site The Paper that he heard one explosion and saw dirt-yellow smoke, tainted with redness, rising from the plant. He said there was a funny smell, and all students were given a mask and told not to remove it.
A staffer at the local environment bureau told The Paper that a team was dispatched to the scene to monitor potential pollution but had yet to report back.
The blast came less than two weeks after the National Ministry of Emergency Management held a workshop on preventing and controlling risks in the chemical industry, as Beijing urged officials at chemical industrial parks to boost their capabilities in “managing hazardous chemicals.”
Last year, the chemical plant was cited for “safety risks” at least twice, but in September it was praised by the Weifang Emergency Management Bureau for relying on party members to effectively manage workplace risks. Specifically, party members at Gaomi Youdao identified more than 800 safety hazards in the first eight months of 2024 and rectified all of them, the bureau said.
Workplace safety has improved over the years in China but remains a stubborn problem. The National Ministry of Emergency Management recorded 21,800 incidents and 19,600 deaths in 2024.
A warehouse complex storing large amounts of hazardous chemicals caught fire and exploded in Tianjin in 2015, leaving 173 dead or missing.
In 2019, 78 people were killed in a blast at a chemical plant in Yancheng in China’s eastern coastal province of Jiangsu.
AP video producer Olivia Zhang, researcher Shihuan Chen in Beijing and writer Fu Ting in Washington contributed to this report.
JINAN, May 27 (Xinhua) This photo taken on May 27, 2025 shows rescuers working at the explosion site of a chemical company in the city of Gaomi, east China's Shandong Province. An explosion occurred at the workshop of a chemical company in Gaomi at noon on Tuesday, with emergency response efforts currently underway, according to the municipal emergency management bureau. (Xinhua)
BEIJING (AP) — A huge explosion rocked a chemical plant in China ’s eastern Shandong province around noon Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring 19, according to local emergency management authorities. Another six people were missing.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.
The blast was powerful enough to knock out windows at a warehouse more than two miles (three kilometers) away, according to a video shared by a resident, who declined to give his name out of concern about retaliation.
The resident said his home shook. As he went to the window, he saw a column of smoke from the site more than seven kilometers (4.3 miles) away.
Gaomi Youdao Chemical Co. is located in an industrial park in the city of Weifang. It manufactures pesticides as well as chemicals for medical use, and has more than 500 employees, according to corporate registration records.
Local fire officials sent more than 230 personnel to the scene, according to state broadcaster China Central Television.
A student at a school about 1,000 yards away from the plant told state-run news site The Paper that he heard one explosion and saw dirt-yellow smoke, tainted with redness, rising from the plant. He said there was a funny smell, and all students were given a mask and told not to remove it.
A staffer at the local environment bureau told The Paper that a team was dispatched to the scene to monitor potential pollution but had yet to report back.
The blast came less than two weeks after the National Ministry of Emergency Management held a workshop on preventing and controlling risks in the chemical industry, as Beijing urged officials at chemical industrial parks to boost their capabilities in “managing hazardous chemicals.”
Last year, the chemical plant was cited for “safety risks” at least twice, but in September it was praised by the Weifang Emergency Management Bureau for relying on party members to effectively manage workplace risks. Specifically, party members at Gaomi Youdao identified more than 800 safety hazards in the first eight months of 2024 and rectified all of them, the bureau said.
Workplace safety has improved over the years in China but remains a stubborn problem. The National Ministry of Emergency Management recorded 21,800 incidents and 19,600 deaths in 2024.
A warehouse complex storing large amounts of hazardous chemicals caught fire and exploded in Tianjin in 2015, leaving 173 dead or missing.
In 2019, 78 people were killed in a blast at a chemical plant in Yancheng in China’s eastern coastal province of Jiangsu.
AP video producer Olivia Zhang, researcher Shihuan Chen in Beijing and writer Fu Ting in Washington contributed to this report.
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