Yesterday authorities reported that all the residents of the 416 households living in the buildings next to the site of the November 15 Jing'an fire have finally moved back into their homes. The two buildings continue to stand shrouded in scaffolding, however, as an eerie reminder of the culprit in the tragedy next door. Shoddy and flammable building materials were responsible for the rapid spread of the fire that claimed 58 lives and drew global attention to the disturbing lack of oversight and regulation in Chinese construction contracting. In response to the disaster, the local government yesterday announced an extensive overhaul of construction rules and practices in Shanghai. more ›

As shameful PR fiascoes tend to do here, the collapse of a Minhang apartment building has now spawned a new set of regulations, to be implemented on October 1. These new construction rules will focus on safety and compel developers to check on the structural integrity, appearance, function and overall quality of apartments they build, according to Xinhua. Homeowners can refuse to pay for units that don't produce a certificate guaranteeing the quality of their apartments and authorities are allowed to hand out fines and create fault records for uncooperative developers. But people are already finding fault with the new rules - namely with the fact that developers are the ones in charge of policing themselves. As one real estate lawyer said, "How can people be their own judges? It is obviously problematic for developers to conduct quality checks on buildings that they constructed... Supervisors cannot be credible either because they are paid by the developers. The government should find an independent third-party." more ›