Chinese slang for cheap, shoddy, unsafe, or otherwise inadequate construction. Tofu dreg projects are relatively common in China due to poor building materials, corrupt government inspectors, overly ambitious building schedules, and a lack of care from builders. Features of tofu dreg projects include leaking pipes in new buildings, to no water at all in fire suppression systems, sinkholes, partial to total collapse of buildings. In some cases, concrete and masonry can be destroyed with bare hands, steel rebar can be broken with a few taps on a hard surface.
Many buildings collapsed during the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake that wouldn't have otherwise, had they not been Tofu Dreg constrution.
by Ambassador of Cupid August 18, 2023