For the houses built of red brick, I believe many people have seen it, after all, this kind of red brick building has been very popular in China in the past forty years or so, especially in the eighties and nineties, it is simply everywhere. At that time, whether in the countryside or in the towns, houses built of red bricks could be seen everywhere and became one of the childhood memories of many people. Nowadays, red brick houses have gradually faded out of people's vision, and even gradually disappeared in life, because red bricks have been banned.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="38" > what red bricks really are</h1>
The advent of red bricks can be described as a clever creation, you are the clay, gangue, shale powder mixed and then fired into a block, in the process of high temperature calcination, the iron elements in the brick in the high temperature and oxygen under the dual action, the production of iron trioxide. As we all know, the color of ferric trioxide is the color that tends to rust, which makes the bricks appear rust red, which is why it is called red bricks as the name suggests.
China has a long history of use of red bricks, according to relevant information, the earliest use in China can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. Because the manufacturing process of red brick is relatively simple, and the production cost is relatively low, because it has been passed down from ancient times to modern times, and plays a pivotal role in the construction of modern towns.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="72" > what are the characteristics of red bricks</h1>
The reason why red brick can become the mainstream building materials in China for a long time, the biggest feature is because its texture is very hard, and the stability is strong, even if the nails, chisel holes and other destructive actions on the red brick house, it will not cause any bad impact on the house, and it will not cause collapse.
Moreover, the house built of red brick has a long lifespan, and it still stands for decades or even hundreds of years to withstand the test of wind and snow. At the same time, the fire prevention ability of red bricks is also relatively good, many building materials contain organic material components, which will burn when exposed to open flames, and the insulation layer of some building materials is outside, and it cannot withstand high temperature and incineration. The red brick is forged under the super high temperature, because the fire prevention effect is very prominent, and the fire is significantly reduced.
Red brick also has one of the most attractive features, that is, it is cheap. Because the raw material needed to make red bricks is clay, the cost is low, and in the eighties a brick was only a few cents to a dollar. Because in the 1980s, when China entered the heyday of urban construction, red bricks became fragrant.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="73" > why red bricks are prohibited</h1>
And red bricks have gradually faded out of the public eye, that is because they were banned by the state, and the use of red bricks began to be restricted in 2005, when it was banned in most cities and not yet implemented in rural areas; in 2021, it was completely banned, not only in cities and towns, but also in rural areas. In this regard, many people can't figure out, red brick is hard and stable and fireproof, but also very cheap, why is it forbidden to ban it?
In fact, the reason why red bricks are banned is not a single one. First of all, the raw material of red brick is clay, and if you want to obtain clay, you can either dig it from the mountain or dig it from the cultivated land resources. When a large amount of clay is dug out of the mountain, it is easy to cause landslides when heavy rains come, and this tragedy has intensified in recent years.
As the market demand for red bricks grows, red brick factories have sprung up, and even some brick factories are in the "one shot for one shot" model. That is to say, those factories that forge red bricks will choose a place with a lot of clay resources to build a factory, and after the nearby clay resources are used up, they will continue in another place. The consumption of clay in this barbaric way is self-evident in the destruction of land resources, resulting in serious soil erosion.
In addition, red bricks in the process of calcination, will also produce a large number of harmful gases, such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and so on. The domestic red brick factory is more small workshops, the awareness of the treatment of industrial harmful gases is almost zero, without any treatment measures to directly discharge harmful gases, not only caused serious pollution to the surrounding air, but also caused damage to the health of nearby residents.
For example, in Changli County, Hebei Province, in 2015, respiratory diseases continued to appear, and after some investigation, it was found that the local water source and air were polluted, and the source of pollution was the local red brick workshop. The cases in Changli County, Hebei Province, are not alone, and after a nationwide investigation, the probability of respiratory diseases near the Red Brick Factory is higher.
Red bricks not only produce harmful gases during calcination, but also produce a large amount of dust, as well as a large amount of wastewater. Wastewater is directly discharged into the ground without treatment, which seriously affects the local ecological environment, not only polluting domestic water, but also planting crops with harmful ingredients.
In addition, red bricks need to be in an environment above 900 ° C when calcining, and last for more than ten hours at such high temperatures. This requires a lot of coal resources to burn, and the carbon dioxide gas produced, although it does not do much damage to the human body, will exacerbate the "greenhouse effect".
China's territorial area ranks third in the world, but the per capita cultivated land area is very low, about 40% of the world's per capita arable land, so China's arable land resources are extremely valuable. However, after the statistics, it was found that the clay required for the red bricks forged in China every year will directly lead to the loss of 700,000 mu of fertile land. Because clay has the function of keeping the land fertile, the clay in the fertile field will become barren after being mined, and the yield of grain will plummet.
To sum up the various reasons mentioned above, China began to not only completely ban the production and use of red bricks, but also restricted the mining of clay. As we all know, clay is a non-renewable resource, in recent decades the domestic highly found that the mining of clay has been not scientific enough, if not in time for the effective protection of clay resources, in the long run China in terms of arable land resources will be less and less, agriculture will also be affected.
Agriculture is a top priority in China and even in the world, so it is inevitable that China will take measures to protect clay resources. The production of red bricks not only seriously depletes clay resources, but also causes air, water pollution, brings health problems to surrounding residents, and also allows nearby crops and aquaculture to carry harmful substances. After some calculation, the disadvantages of using red bricks far exceed the advantages, and with the continuous improvement of people's environmental awareness and health awareness, banning red bricks has become a trend of the times.