Walking around the neighborhood I noticed that the telephone poles were kind of weird looking, then I saw they were not wood or metal, but made of formed concrete! This is strange indeed — I’m accustomed to the tall, sturdy, pitch-coated logs holding up power lines in America. But then it dawned on me that wood is now a rare building material here.
All the city buildings are made of poured concrete, even the housing. And this includes the roof, ceilings, and interior walls, like between bedrooms, kitchen, and living room. Maybe that is why Chinese homes have so few wall hangings: putting things on a wall requires a mansonry-drill to make the hole!
I started researching this theoildrum.com further and found the CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION News Service says that China alone consumes more than half the world’s cement. Cement is sort of like the glue in concrete. (Concrete is about 15% cement.) Apparently demand has not yet subsided. USGS data posted on theoildrum.comreally shows how China’s demand has been consistent in recent years. “Annual production of cement by country — theolddrum.com & USGS”