Too fast, too soon: how China's growth led to the Tianjin disaster

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Absorbing long read from The Guardian of the myriad factors behind the terrible 2015 explosion that destroyed a whole area of the Chinese port city of Tianjin, killing 173 people. The mismanagement of hazardous goods in a warehouse that was too close to residential areas might have been the reasons the disaster happened, but its root causes lie in the huge social shifts taking place in China: “The explosion also underscored a dilemma at the heart of China’s unprecedented economic boom: the chemical industry is critical for the country’s growth, but that growth is also fuelling rapid urbanisation. This is pushing residential areas closer to active chemical sites – like in Tianjin.” The immediate consequences were clearly terrible, but longer term effects that Chinese officials still struggle to manage continue.