Scaffolding and Building

Animals have a big role in building construction, especially when it is in a less easy to reach place like this mountain top.

In China, construction is fast and uses a lot of methods which are not commonly seen in the West. Bamboo is often used for scaffolding in a number of ways and, because most of the builder are very used to this tradition, when they use metal, they use it as if it were bamboo. So in the making of new buildings they often seem to create a compete shell out of long metal rods, about the size of the bamboo that would be used, all bolted together. As the building grows, the structure remains and is used as a transport system and holding structure. Then at the last minute, when the building is complete, they deconstruct the shell to reveal the new building. They still use bamboo a lot as well as traditional techniques to get fast production on a small budget.

Only rarely do they use elements that are much stronger than these metal rods, so when doing things like a new bridge - where there would usually be a huge need for load bearing support structures - they just bolt thousands of these poles together to create a connected 3D matrix. That means that the bridge is supported by essentially solid metal below its surface. This method is quite safe as it makes it much less likely that the bridge will fall while in construction, but it is resource intensive and time consuming. However, this is not a problem for the construction managers because in China, there are always people eager to work at jobs like this so they can easily find good employees. As a result, the workflow of the construction site is much quicker and tighter paced. They also have a tendency to work all the time, as opposed to Western construction companies who are likely to stop if it rains or if the wind is not blowing to their liking. Similarly, there are no problems with unions. Instead, there are government organisations and there are certain rights to walk away from things that people are not interested in taking part in. In the end, it seems hugely more efficient than the Western methods and in general better for a larger percentage of the population.