Tragic news emerged at the beginning of the May Day holiday on the Chinese mainland. Around 2:10 am on May 1st, a road collapse occurred near K11+900m on the Guangdong Meidagao Expressway towards Fujian, resulting in 48 deaths and 30 injuries as of 3 pm on May 2nd. These travelers heading to their destinations never imagined that their journeys would come to a sudden halt, leaving their eagerly awaiting loved ones in tears. How many families are now grieving?
In many countries, including Western nations and underdeveloped regions in Africa and the Americas, if such a catastrophic disaster occurred, government leaders would, for various reasons, come forward to express condolences and sympathy to the affected people and their families. They would even personally visit the disaster area to assess and direct rescue efforts.
However, in China, such displays are becoming increasingly rare. Over the past three years, despite disasters like fires in Xinjiang, floods in the south, Zhengzhou subway flooding, earthquakes in Sichuan, bus crashes in Guizhou, hospital fires in Beijing, and the collapse of a stadium in Qiqihar causing the deaths of young athletes, the top leaders in Zhongnanhai who have always proclaimed “putting the people first, valuing life” have remained silent, failing to show sympathy or condolences to the deceased or victims of disasters. It is remembered that the directives for disaster relief from the top leader of the Chinese Communist Party in the past three years can be counted on one hand, with one issued in August 2023 after the disasters caused by heavy rainfall in North China. Meanwhile, when disasters or shootings occur in other countries, the top leadership proactively sends messages of condolence.
Following the significant casualties and public outrage caused by the Meidagao Expressway collapse, the usually elusive CCP leader Xi Jinping had to issue instructions once again, emphasizing the need to “fully carry out on-site rescue operations, treat the injured, and properly handle the aftermath” with the main goal of ensuring “social stability.” Premier Li Keqiang, a follower of Xi, also issued instructions and sent Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing of the State Council to Guangdong.
However, these instructions did not include expressions of condolences for the deceased, sympathy for the injured, genuine introspection, anger over the reasons behind the collapse, but rather showed concerns about the societal instability caused by the disaster. How could Xi and Li retain the people’s trust with such responses?
Why is Xi unwilling to publicly investigate the causes of the collapse and seek justice for the victims to improve his image? Public records show that the Meidagao Expressway, connecting Meizhou City in Guangdong Province with Dabu County, commenced construction on January 11, 2010, and was completed on December 31, 2014, in less than a decade. The construction was overseen by the Guangdong Provincial Highway Management Bureau and later managed by the Guangdong Provincial Traffic Group Co., Ltd., a state-owned enterprise.
According to mainland media reports, the Meidagao Expressway has a bridge and tunnel ratio of 51%, the highest among mountainous expressways in Guangdong at the time, with multiple instances of high-risk situations during construction such as collapse, water seepage, etc. A netizen certified as an intermediate construction engineer, @Madaheer, mentioned, “Aside from recent bad weather, it was found that two sections of the expressway had traffic control due to construction, but no maintenance control information was found on the section of the incident, indicating deficiencies in the maintenance of old expressways.”
In other words, despite being operational for less than a decade, issues had already arisen on the expressway, and maintenance had begun on some sections, except for the one where the accident occurred.
Moreover, on April 1st of the previous year, a section of the steep slope at K55+690 on the Meidagao Expressway towards Dabu had collapsed due to heavy rainfall, fortunately without casualties.
So, was the recent heavy rainfall in Guangdong the primary cause of the Meidagao Expressway collapse? Blaming it on nature is a convenient excuse, allowing the parties involved — construction companies, officials, related designers, and supervisors — to evade significant responsibility. However, why did a high-speed road collapse under heavy rain conditions? Surely, the geological and weather conditions of the area should have been considered during the initial design phase. Wasn’t there a need for adequate measures like reinforced maintenance? Clearly, the negligence was present. There must be human error behind it.
An expert named “Simon Zhou,” a senior highway engineer, analyzed from a professional perspective that there were severe problems in the construction of the roadbed: improper layer-by-layer fill, insufficient compaction in layer-by-layer and overall, failure to meet the particle size ratio requirements, and inadequate slope protection in mountainous areas. Therefore, he stated that “the construction company, the project owners, supervisors, and relevant authorities are all responsible enough to be blamed.”
If the situation is true, then how was the thoroughfare deemed acceptable upon completion? It is indeed worth investigating. It’s been heard that many projects in mainland China are subcontracted layer by layer, with each layer consuming a proportionate fee until the last contractor is left with minimal funds. To turn a profit, lower-tier contractors resort to using substandard materials and not following regulations becoming the norm. In a corrupt-ridden China, where bribery from major contractors influences inspections, taking substandard projects through the approval process is not surprising.
This is why reports of collapsed buildings, broken bridges, and road collapses are frequently heard in mainland China, where human error surpasses natural disasters. Xi and Li avoid addressing human errors and refuse to investigate the collapse publicly, likely out of fear of exposing widespread corruption, which could further enrage an already discontent public and lead to social instability, jeopardizing their power. Thus, when disasters like the Meidagao Expressway collapse occur, blaming it on nature, removing a few officials, and offering compensation become routine procedures. As for punishing certain high-ranking officials and holding them accountable, that seems out of the question.
However, the tragic collapse of the Meidagao Expressway is not the end; where will the next shoddy construction failure under the Communist Party occur? How much more anger will Xi’s regime ignite among the population?