What are Tofu Buildings?
Tofu buildings are buildings which are so structurally unsound that they are compared to jiggling blocks of soft tofu, which will crumble at the slightest provocation. The term originates in China, where a construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s led to a proliferation of such structures. The numerous issues with tofu buildings were brought to the forefront in 2008, when a devastating earthquake in Sichuan province killed tens of thousands of Chinese, many of whom were trapped in tofu buildings when they collapsed. From the outside, tofu buildings look perfectly safe, especially to the casual eye. They have all of the components one would expect to see in a building, and often the inside is finished in such a way that it looks secure as well. However, the superstructure and foundation of a tofu building is not sound, and this can lead to serious problems in earthquakes, floods, and fires, as the unstable building may collapse or be badly damaged. Obviously, no one sets out t
