This viral post is actually a classic example of cherry-picking—taking the fastest, most impressive “sprint” projects from China and comparing them to the most delayed or expensive “marathon” projects from the USA.
This post is trying to convey that China is much fast / efficient than USA. These two countries are biggest competitor in almost all categories, so these kind of posts keep floating on the internet.
China side: The “Sprint” Projects:
The events listed did happen, but they require context:
9 Hours for a Railway Station: This happened in 2018 at Longyan Station. It wasn’t building a station from scratch; it was a massive operation where 1,500 workers connected three existing lines to a new high-speed rail line. The station itself already existed.
28 Hours for an Apartment: This is the Broad Group’s “Living Building” (2021). It worked because the building was prefabricated. Every room was built in a factory over months; the 28 hours was just the time it took to “Lego” them together on-site.
10 Days for a Hospital: This refers to the Huoshenshan Hospital built during the 2020 COVID outbreak. It was a massive feat of mobilization, using modular containers on a dirt lot.
USA side: The “Outliers”
The image uses extreme examples of bureaucracy and mega-projects to represent the entire country:
20 Years for a Bridge: This is an exaggeration. While some bridges (like the Brent Spence Bridge) have been in “planning hell” for decades due to funding, actual construction rarely takes 20 years. For comparison, the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis was rebuilt in just 11 months after its collapse.
16 Years for a Tunnel (it is famously known as Big Dig Project): It was the most complex highway project in US history, involving moving an entire elevated highway underground while the city stayed open above it.
3 Years / $1.7m Toilet: This is a true but localized story from San Francisco (2022). The “Noe Valley Toilet” became a national punchline for government waste. After the public outcry, the city ended up getting a donated prefabricated toilet and the final cost dropped to about $200,000.
So, the facts are real but the comparison is not right (like famous saying comparing apple vs oranges)
