I remember you remember So C-Milk you know how things in China are very badly maintained, right? There's reasons for that stop stop stop stop stop No stop! So you know like you see these? Structures around here. They're actually called nail houses Maybe you could explain to everybody why it's called a nail house. Well at first glance I actually thought it was because there's nails everywhere because there were literally just rusty nails everywhere It's actually not why, they're called nail houses because they're actually shoddily made, and they're made for a profit So they buy the cheapest concrete that has obviously the poorest you know qualities to it and they build them really really quickly and every For every floor that they add on top they get more and more government compensation. That's how the rules work So you see these like rebar sticking out? Yeah, and that means they're going to put another floor on top of it and it gets worse and worse the higher They go, it's actually more and more dangerous, right? So that's pretty much what a nail house is. Yeah, but the reason they're called a nail house is because They stick, they stick there like an unwanted nail that you just can't get rid of so Sure. When they have big projects like they want to put in a highway See they're all over the place here Yeah, but when you want to put in a highway you'll have these nails sticking out standing in your way And they're just not going to move until you pay compensation you see and what these guys do is You know per floor they get compensated like you said right? Yeah But they'll hold out and the government or whoever, the construction company that wants to Basically build the project they'll keep asking these guys hey look we'll compensate you for your land Please you know sign off, and they'll be like nope That's not enough. Give me more, and you know some of them just won't refuse to move. It's actually resorted into You know a kind of small micro economy of thugs yeah, basically get paid to go to people's houses and say yo You're nail house. This is the way get out. Yeah they actually even like beat them up they even demolish their houses when they go out like if they got to town and They come down there. I'm done. But there are a couple of very interesting examples of nail houses that have actually Not been moved and so like for instance. I will find some pictures, but you've had highways highways built around them Yeah, you know and like there or like whole construction projects have been built around the nail officer So it's weird you got a house in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, it screwed up like that Yeah, so yeah, there's a nail houses, but you know we are talking about nail houses But I decided we should just talk about maintenance in General It sounds like a really general topic, but it's something that needs to be addressed in here to Understand China Yeah I'd like you to look around us all of you guys sing it sitting at home or wherever you are watching this And look at the buildings that we're passing and I'd like you to try and see Well if you look at this one right in front of us for instance, okay, we got a couple of houses here They're probably not very old sure I'd say maybe 40 30 40 50 years old Mm-hmm Um we could even go ask that dude over there and find out. Yeah, we're good. Okay. Let's go ask him Okay, ask him. How old is this houses? Yeah, it's overlooked yeah Let's go and find out let's hope he doesn't get too freaked out. Yeah, just say okay Hmm Yeah, yeah, we're saying when you said to get took a fonzie to Handle our angioma Women do the hump Er lang to go PJg, oma, tickle oh Put the dollar he'd read her child or listen enjoy A Predator Uh-Huh? One to be well. He doesn't know because he died think yeah, I think he knows maybe anyway It doesn't matter you could just look at the overall State of these houses that people are still living in and you see this has never been painted yeah It's cracked it's falling apart Oh, it's disgusting everything's rusty and terrible, and then they've built on a new addition Which is just a very boring? Concrete Shall I see the concrete still showing everywhere except the front where they put tiles cow looks like a countryside train station, China It's just it's incredulous Cheapest tiles yeah, it's it's just very cheaply built and it's not maintained it's never been painted you know you can see there the rust marks and It's because people just refuse to maintain their properties here. Look sure this temple for instance okay, so a quick look at this temple now you think a temple would be Something people would care about right actually be mean work before everything if you guys you know if anyone actually knows Chinese architecture and artwork yeah This looks fairly old and original so if you can kind of give us an appraisal on how old that is we'd like to know But yeah what you're saying. Yeah, I'm just saying like okay, so a temple like this which Is obviously something important to the local community? But if you walk in here, they've got moldy fire work emails from probably Above the snails four years ago. They don't clean it up. Everything's kind of just falling apart and as you can see although It is indeed a very nice and interesting looking place. It's like a couplet loose on It is just horribly maintained there is no maintenance. Look at the walls. It's coin said because I'm going to assume This is quite. Old it still has with the kind of hand carved wooden bars in the windows Yes, and I did see traditional characters meaning. It's definitely older than 70 years old. Yes, which is really unique and cool you know here would be all the names of the Benefactor here from the local community and here's the Shrine part and You know there there's beauty here. You can see it look at the ruler But it's just rundown and disgusting you know. It's just such a waste because Nobody likes to maintain things here in China sure and there a couple of reasons for this And I think let's get back on the bikes and try to explain it to the best of our ability What do you think sounds good on a decline foo here? Okay? This all the room. It's like mow your lawn and scare in there Mow your lawn Yeah, this used to be a back courtyard. I guess yeah Yeah, it's a shame though because this is really cool This is like when you come to China that kind of stuff you want to see yeah, yeah But this is this is what you expect you expect these kind of amazing Kung Fu temples and suffered just so rundown. Yeah Hey, Doc It's not a milk dog. Is it no I can't samantha the male dog. Okay, okay? See what's up? uh Yeah, nothing is very well-maintained in China And it's not just in these rural areas No Urban areas like big Buildings Brand-new Construction projects sure how about you talk about where you used to live II maybe is plain to everyone about that I actually used to live in a government property and It was a gift from my my mother and father-in-law before they got divorced Mm-Hmm was that I could have a free house. Which is really cool However, it's you know. It's it looks kind of like a place that poor people would live if you judge the outside hey It's all that's awful. That's very ugly. It's like trust marks down the walls and hitting is just tiles falling off It looks like a very almost like a slum. Yes Yes, but when you go inside You realize very quickly that the people that live there actually very wealthy though the government employees right yeah And they work for the tax department So they're not they're not in need of cash no and you go into these people's houses And you realize they have all of the amenities that you might you know find in a rich person cells They have a marble floors you have leather sofas. They have mahogany chairs. They have flat-screen TVS if they're very wealthy yeah, because there is a big issue here in China with a Kind of lack of responsibility for shared things and what I mean by that is like for example if 20 people live in here Yeah, they won't pitch in and help each other to make the shared Exterior look good. They won't keep up the maintenance because it's not there. You are telling me this really funny story about A building that you knew about Shenzhen right? Oh, actually I want to tell about that elevator elevator Okay, so I went to my my in-laws place and they live in Shark 1 which is up at the top of a boeing dong right yeah, and It's one of the very few buildings because they also live in a kind of a an older part of the town But it's one of the few buildings that has an elevator in it because usually those buildings like your old one only has stairs, right? That's cool. It's like North Korea. Oh. Yeah. Anyway. Go ahead so anyway um So we get in the elevator And I noticed that the light you know that the light in the elevator is missing like the wires dang, okay? There are wires dangling down there, and it's pitch black in the elevator, right um So that's my wife. It's like why why don't they just replace this because it's really quick and easy It's gonna cost like 10 R and b of 20 RMB for a new light bulb, and they're like no They had like a a meeting everyone in the building It was like having a discussion about who's gonna fix it and nobody wanted to put in the 20 RMB to fix it So they have left it like that for Get this seven years seven years seven years they've been without a light in their elevator Just reappear where oh yeah to the left over here and all right yeah Yeah, yeah, let me turn around um in for seven years. Yeah, dude remind me let's come back here I want to say something about this temp Oh, yeah, good idea yeah, when we come back anyway. Yeah So for seven years the people in that building have been going up and down in this pitch-black elevator This is because nobody wants to take responsibility and pay that 20 RMB This is a very similar situation at my place like I said all the residents were rich, right? Yeah, but a lot of the elderly in there. We're having health problems from climbing all the stairs since there is no elevator Yeah, the government put in like a good subsidy and actually everyone only had to pitch in a hundred RMB which is like 20 bucks yeah, and No one was willing to do it to put in an elevator They wanted to do it for free even though it was only a hundred RMB. Isn't it insane that is ridiculous It's so silly hey, let's try get on this little pathway okay want to go this looks pretty cool right now We have a very old sort of Village area Yeah, this is this is all. She'll just get milk dog. Yeah, but luckily was behind a gate Is it oh yeah serious all right? Yeah, this is very very nice and rustic, but the problem is like everything is just not maintained. It's such a pity It's all moldy and falling apart. It's very atmospheric, but it's a shame because a lot of the stuff could be quite beautiful Yeah It's atmospheric as in a ghost town as atmospheric like Chernobyl or something Right now like you looks abandoned and everything look at everything broken down You can still see the dressers and stuff in there right, and it's a shame. It's a lot It's probably really old yeah, this should be a historical site It should be but it's just a rundown like Village and there's still people living here It's made of mud like clearly this is old yeah, but you know No, yeah, nobody has any desire. Nope no desire to maintain any of it Yeah, such a sight dogs are friendly some dogs or meaning. Yeah anyway umm It doesn't always have to do with houses, and we should probably start wrapping this up But yeah it also comes down to vehicles. I'm just gonna throw up. My mother-in-law here. I was located about her. Okay good That's it. See, ya She has a Ford Mondeo, okay Yes And she never replaced the oil in it and let me tell you the car now has 70,000 kilometers on it And she never once replaced the oil and there was smoke billowing out And I said hey mother-in-law like wow you mind if I check your oil and she's like. What's that? And so I I had to take it to change the oil and she was like upset. She's like I don't want to spend the money on that don't think it needs that right? I put gas in it. Yeah Oh man, and yeah, it has to do with like vehicles as well And I'm thinking about a lot of the cars. I see on the road. Yeah Also the bicycles you're talking about oh yeah, man like you very often see someone riding past on a bicycle That is got wobbly wheels and missing spokes and like roads rusted through and it's barely moving and It still got like parts of the original packaging on it. You know like the Bubble wrap or whatever that it came in it's still like attached to it even though. It's an old rusting wreck Because people find something that use it until it can't be used anymore then just replace it That's how China works like it is It's not about being poor because you'd think wow this person must be really poor to be driving this really wrecked bicycle, right? But it costs almost nothing to get that kind of thing fixed in China like actually ever cause is just so cheap I like this old roof that's really cool Yeah, I like this old little area. It's just a pity It's just so like destroyed right we've got a very old sort of Communist message on the wall here Oh, yeah, look at that. You guys can read Really warped yeah. Look at that. That's old yeah, Shannon bought something another Yeah, a very kind of historic. There's a lot of maois propaganda, and it still is amazing. Yeah, we'll talk about that in a minute Yeah, that's bait. That's right. They basically Refused to pay the 10 RMb to like get their spokes fixed because that's how much it costs, right Or to replace a chain or oil. It's only when it breaks then out of desperation They'll go and fix something that you know, but that's just the mentality here, so it's not about money or anything It's about the mentality and people won't get over that. So that's why everything in China is poorly maintained sure It's a conflicting thing because you mentioned like it kind of symbol it symbolizes like a lack of pride. Yeah Approach it's a it's a very proud culture that relies on face, and that's why people buy such expensive things yeah So it's weird it's a very conflicting idea now This is a temple that we visited before and in fact rather than go in there because there's something very special in this temple We're going to point you to the video that we made about this when we were doing our superstitions video so we want you to go check it out because there's something very special inside here, right, but Look at this All right here We've got this little olden craving this this original pillar or whatever has you know old? Stone engraving, and then someone's gone and screed it bathroom tiles on top right? I mean, it's a community temple, and they still use it all the time We see it updated all times the couplets not gonna sir, but this remember the first time we visited this had not collapsed Nope, okay, but then we wrote past year about a month ago And we saw it had collapsed due to the typhoon or something so yeah this whole wall is collapsed. Here's all the rubble and It hasn't been touched. They're just like oh or whatever just leave it that way You know and the wicked this is the problem because it's still in use right It obviously has an importance to this village But nobody cares about maintaining it so it's just lost and it's going to all turn to dust My we actually know guys names mike yeah about 70 years old. He's an American he works in medicine Yep And medical come he actually bought one of these here in this village and ended up leaving because it was in such bad Shape yeah, and he could do nothing to the community he actually rented it Yeah, do nothing to get the community to renovate it even though. He was willing to foot the bill So he tried to do everything himself and it just fell apart yeah. Yeah, it is. It's always willing to help yeah It's just one of those things and it's like I said it's a mindset It's not going to change anytime soon, but I think anyone who visits China will probably be worried wondering Why is everything so badly maintained right and hopefully this has answered some of your questions? And it's a shame it is a shame cuz I love it. It's cool. Yeah, you know me I mean, I would love it, too If it was maintained, and I'm going to just be brutal about this and say you know I I recently went to Japan Where you can find these old temples sure that are eight hundred years old like the kumamoto castle or something right? And it's the same kind of thing you know it's very similar culture right sure I'm sure you've got these old buildings which I absolutely Love because they've kept them as if they're new to get fairytale. Yeah, and they basically what they do is They maintain them every year they use the same kind of shirt was originally used And you know they make sure that it's looked after and they are amazing and beautiful to see but then you see this beautiful old Architecture here, that's just been left to rot Right such a pity anyway, that's it for today. You got anything you want to say to our subscribers? Well, hopefully you maintain you know your your viewership here, and you keep that up And we'll keep the quality up for you guys, and I also hope that you like comment and subscribe yeah and if you don't like comment, or subscribe unlike the Maintenance ethic in China, I hope that all of you as always stay awesome When I take your prayers you fill up my lungs
Here's an essay I recommend reading on this very subject: https://aeon.co/essays/what-chinese-corner-cutting-reveals-about-modernity
The main thesis is that in China, craftsmanship is underappreciated, and "good enough for government work" is too pervasive.
i don't get how china tolerates nail houses,
i mean didn't they relocate a million people to put in a dam for hydro-power and flood a thousand square miles of the country? so what's the big imminent domain issue with one house blocking the route of a planned highway?
For a lot of things in life these days...
Quality Used > New
Sort of on the same topic, there's a pretty good recent podcast from the Freakonomics people on the importance of maintenance:
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/in-praise-of-maintenance/
Worth a listen.
wtf is milk dog?
Anybody know which video has the footage of the temple they mention towards the end?
"lack of responsibility for shared things" !! holy shit, talk about socialism done wrong. china seems very lost.
It might be silly to attribute the "current state of affairs" on China, since we as Westerners sent the orders, but in any case I think it gives some context, where replacing a product is more interesting than repairing the original for only a fraction of the cost.
Hope I'm not too off topic!
If you enjoyed this, I would recommend reading the book "Poorly Made In China" which exposes a lot of secrets about Chinese factories making substandard products.
https://www.amazon.com/Poorly-Made-China-Insiders-Production/dp/0470928077