>>28469654i dont disagree with your sentiment but you have actually missed the single largest reason why chinese building is so retarded
their entire government relies on a complicated series of grifts. it is like the russian kleptocracy but the fraud is more widely distributed.
imagine you are a small time mayor. your mandate from the CCP is to increase GDP. you do this by spending money on stuff that increases GDP, money which you get for increasing GDP. the scam is simple at this low level. you get bribes from your underlings. you assign complicated stupid building contracts, including roadways, to your brother or cousin. he steals half the money and gives you a share, and you have to give part of your share to your bosses, who do the same.
because you have hired bro's building company to build random pointless shit, jobs were "created". money moved so there's taxes there, and GDP goes up. So your salary, and pool of money you get to waste, goes up. Those who scam a little too openly, or not enough, or so much that they get noticed by higher ups who fear their power growth, get violently disappeared, and nobody cares.