Corner cutting as a behavior can only persist because of high competition and information asymmetry: if buyers can't tell quality from crap, then honest sellers get out-competed and driven out of the market.<p>China is a very, very competitive market with relatively low barriers to entry. Any successful product instantly attracts legions of competitors and copycats.<p>Technological changes can make the information asymmetry much worse. If buyers have had a long time to familiarize themselves with a product, they're more likely to tell good from bad, in the process weeding out bad producers. If it's a new product, they never got that chance. I'll bet a lot of these apartment buildings are sold to first-time owners.<p>Classic paper, in the context of used cars:<p><a href="https://www.iei.liu.se/nek/730g83/artiklar/1.328833/AkerlofMarketforLemons.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.iei.liu.se/nek/730g83/artiklar/1.328833/AkerlofM...</a>