10 facts about China that are hard to believe

In recent years, the Celestial Empire has achieved tremendous success in economic development. But the development model itself and the ambiguous political situation in the country gave rise to a number of problems and very strange phenomena in Chinese life.

Some of them are in our material.

(Total 10 photos)

1. In terms of pork consumption, China has overtaken the United States. Surprisingly, the country even has a so-called "pork reserve" for use in the event of an economic crisis and skyrocketing prices.

2. Many Chinese companies install special nets on buildings to prevent their employees from committing suicide. Office psychologists are also invited to work with potential suicides.

3. Self-immolation is an extremely popular form of protest. Therefore, when power was transferred to a new leader in the country, in 2012, firefighters were on duty in the central squares of Beijing to prevent acts of self-immolation.

4. National Interests Above All: To perform on stage at the 2008 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, little Yang Pei was deemed not pretty enough, and was replaced by Lin Myaok, who had to diligently open her mouth to the sound of the young performer's song. The musical director of the ceremony stated: "The audience will understand us, as we defended the national interests."

5. In China, not only some technical things are faked, but also entire hardware stores. Moreover, their number, just like "quality", so to speak, is growing rapidly, and the most famous store - "fake" is located in the south of the country in the city of Kunming. Its name is not difficult to guess, of course, it is Apple!

6. In order to protect tourists and support tour operators, a special law was passed in China some time ago. By the way, the law also contains clauses regulating the behavior of the tourists themselves, who have a rest in the Celestial Empire. The law was needed after a series of unpleasant incidents in which architectural monuments were damaged, and rare species of plants and animals were even eaten.

7. In China, actively growing cities and roads are gradually taking away the lands that belonged to them from the villagers, but if the owners refuse to move, the authorities have no choice but to resolve the issue, for example, in this way: the house of farmer Luo Baogen and his wife was literally sense in the middle of the road after its owners were not satisfied with the state compensation offered for the demolition of the building.

8. The problem of lack of space is forcing inventive Chinese citizens to find new, original solutions: many wealthy apartment owners receive official permission to build a "penthouse" on the roof, but some do it illegally. The “house in the mountains” captured in the photo had to be demolished at the request of the city administration.

9. Poverty, corruption and widespread violations of human rights often lead to cases where, in a country where the death penalty is allowed, instead of rich criminals, their doubles are tried and sent to prison. Moreover, this market is actively developing: you can find a person who, for a lot of money, will agree to serve at least 10 years.

10. To a Russian, such a detail may seem very ordinary, but Western experts and, moreover, ordinary citizens are very surprised if suddenly a road or bridge collapses just a few months after the completion of construction. 1 person died and 22 were injured as a result of the collapse of a new bridge in the Chinese province of Fujian.