In recent decades, shoddy construction projects in China have been rampant, with numerous cases of major safety accidents caused by poor construction quality. On Monday (8th), the Chinese Communist Party officially released the causes of 5 safety accidents, involving almost all aspects of engineering projects from survey and design to construction supervision, and testing and acceptance, sparking widespread public attention.
The Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management released a notification on Monday (June 8th) regarding typical cases of fraudulence in the field of safety production reported by the State Council Safety Commission Office. The notification mentioned 5 typical cases of production accidents caused by engineering fraudulence, involving surveying, design, construction, procurement, supervision, evaluation, testing, inspection, and other stages, resulting in a total of 90 deaths and missing persons.
One of the most discussed incidents was the collapse of the Denning Expressway bridge in Yanping Village II, Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province, which resulted in 62 fatalities. Some comments stated, “The 62 casualties are a result of systemic negligence,” and “It’s a collective fabrication by all parties responsible.”
Some netizens remarked, “What’s the big deal? If it’s not fake, there’s no profit to be made,” and “The quality of projects built in the 1960s was much better than now.” Others expressed fear of crossing large bridges, saying, “There are so many vehicles on the bridges like ants, each time I pass under one, my heart jumps! I’m afraid of becoming a sacrifice of this era!”
Many netizens believe that this phenomenon is widespread in China. “What has happened is just the tip of the iceberg; many bridges haven’t had accidents yet. Now it’s all about smoking, drinking, and bribery. Time will reveal everything,” one user stated. They also noted that the responsibility lies mainly with the construction side, with the others being scapegoats.
The notification detailed that during the construction of the Denning Expressway bridge, the supervising unit, Beijing Huahong Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd., illegally approved the lifting of the beam by the construction party not according to the design drawings. The testing unit, the original Shaanxi Jiajian Highway Engineering Testing Co., Ltd., discovered that the actual pile length of the bridge did not match the design specifications. They unlawfully altered the pile length and the original ultrasonic waveform without correction, yet still issued a passing report.
On August 22, 2025, the collapse of the Jiazha Yellow River Extra-Large Bridge project of the Western Chengdu Railway, undertaken by the China Railway Seventh Engineering Co., resulted in a major catastrophe, with 16 deaths and missing persons. The project department was found to have purchased substandard bolts unlawfully and produced a set of ‘compliant’ false contracts and supporting materials for inspections. The company and the project department bypassed the quality inspection and tower installation checks, with crucial indicators not verified before signing off on the relevant forms.
On November 11, 2025, the Red Flag Bridge in Markam City, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, collapsed, causing no casualties but leading to direct economic losses of 27.7248 million yuan. The Chengdu Survey Design Research Institute Co., Ltd. failed to conduct rigorous geological surveys for the reservoir embankment projects and did not organize stability assessments for the bridge slopes, omitting crucial geological conditions during the design phase.
On December 6, 2025, in the construction of the Lower Lantau Intersection’s underpass in Shaanzhou District, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, a slope collapse resulted in 5 fatalities. The subcontracting unit, Henan Yuxi Road and Bridge Survey Design Co., Ltd., falsified the soil test results, where the geological layer distribution and physical mechanics index presented in the survey report were severely distorted, serving as one of the direct causes of the accident.
On February 7, 2026, a tank fall at the Upper Zhuang Mine section of the Silkworm Village Gold Mine in Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province, led to 7 fatalities. The Shandong Hongde Inspection and Testing Technology Co., Ltd. failed to perform non-destructive testing on the steel wire rope head of the 395 blind vertical shaft in the mine sector as required. Although the actual rope length was 342 meters, the inspection only covered 242 meters, with 100 meters missed, yet the testing report concluded that “both steel wire ropes are suitable for normal use.” Both breakage points of the steel wire ropes in the accident were within the uninspected area.