Unwritten rules seem natural and unquestionable. Commit a rule to writing or speak it out loud, however, and it can be probed at with logic, illuminated through debate, or, as parents and teachers will often be all too aware, sidestepped entirely. Let’s stroll past some quirks and oddities of the rules-based world we live in, and see what we learn along the way.
It seems smart to start from a point of agreement and understanding; and indeed, most definitions of the word “rule” include some reference to rules being “accepted” or “understood”. The question then becomes, by who? Well, society, of course. But when were you given a chance to “accept” any of the rules you live by in advance? And what if you decide that in fact you don’t accept one of these rules?
I recently conducted an entirely scientific survey of a group of teenagers in advance of reading Lord of the Flies (it seems a rule that students in a Western education setting come across this Don’t-Do-it-Yourself example of society building at one point or another). Reflecting on who creates rules, how they enforce them and what the purposes of these rules are revealed just how deeply ingrained unwritten rules can feel. It also reassured me that the classic, “You can’t leave the table until your dinner is finished”, rule is still alive and kicking.
The range of rules exposed this way ran from, “Don’t say bad words” (enforced by Mum and Dad) to, “Thou shalt not murder”, (biblical manifestation my own dramatic spin). Just as interesting were the purposes expressed behind the rules, often some form of, “To avoid getting in trouble”, indicating one of two things. Firstly, that the rule had succeeded in becoming invisible in that person’s mind, or secondly, that they didn’t really know why it existed at all.
Where purposes were brought to light, rules at the less severe end of the spectrum were understood to exist so people could “not offend” or “keep harmony”, a fascinating indication of cultural values. Rules, and purposes behind them at the serious end of the severity range were perhaps more universal and less surprising. The widely agreed upon injunction against stealing inevitably had values of fairness and respect behind it.
So, while this was reaffirming, especially to those of us who worry that the world is going to hell in a handcart and the youth are all to blame, it didn’t drill down into exactly how rules function, or explore what happens when they don’t.
Lord of the Flies itself does ask these questions. At the risk of spoiling a 70-year-old school stalwart for anyone who’s (somehow) managed not to read it, watch a version of it or encounter any of the many parodies of it, the answers are not good. The small society of all male, all English students make a good effort at first of upholding rules, law and order while simultaneously having fun and reaching for a childish Utopia, but slowly, surely collapse under the weight of the dark sides of their own humanity. The author, William Golding, argued that without laws, you’re finished, you’re done. They’re the only thing keeping us from our beastly inner natures.
With this rather pessimistic view of humanity’s inner truth in mind, let’s see if any history or evidence backs up or refutes this stance. Of the few worldwide examples of successful anarchic societies, Christiania merits study. Founded in an abandoned military area in Denmark, the residents discourage private property; for example, ownership of private cars is forbidden. There are also basic bylaws against guns and violence. A contradiction emerges. It would seem that even in places designed to be as free from oversight and intervention as possible, human beings still need to codify basic tenets of behaviour.
Another small-scale example is the Twin Oaks Community in Virginia, USA. It is leaderless, aims to be self-supporting and is partly self-sufficient. It is “income-sharing”, with money generated by hammock, casual furniture and tofu production. Each member of the community works 42 hours a week in the community’s business and domestic areas, and receives housing, food, healthcare, and personal spending money from the community. Again, this society exists on top of and through interaction with wider, rules-based societies (in this case, the rest of the USA) and so is difficult to hold up as a rule-less example.
Still, it seems that if you are of a mind to reject (some of) the rules you were born in to, there are places in the world you can go.
Understanding these rules seems a vital first step, but it is not as easy as simply pulling up a list of laws and rules that is applicable to the country you live in. Some rules, especially in countries where rules and laws have accumulated over time, seem to exist only within the minds of lawyers and the confines of a court room. And while many rules, and the purposes behind them, can be pleasingly transparent, there are some that logic seems to have bypassed.
A choice few are as follows, and good luck divining the purposes behind these laws, though they do perhaps say some fascinating things about the values of the places concerned.
• It’s Illegal to Climb a Tree in Toronto, Canada
• You Must Walk Your Dog 3 Times Daily in Turin, Italy
• It’s Illegal to Handle Salmon Suspiciously in the U.K.
• It’s Illegal to Wrestle a Bear in South Africa
• It’s Illegal to Play Dominoes in Sevilla, Spain
• It’s Illegal to Drive a Dirty Car in Russia
• Men Must Wear Speedos on French Beaches
• It’s Illegal to Be Shirtless in Barcelona, Spain
• It’s Illegal to Wear a Fake Moustache in a Church in Alabama, USA.
Silly, senseless, or strangely appealing? These laws may be on the kookier outward edge of human law-making, but they do point to an apparently innate desire to impose control on our environments, for reasons of fairness, respect, equality, avoidance of threat and even aesthetics.
So, what about here in China? We all have experiences of friction with some of the rules and regulations imposed upon us during life here, especially during the turbulent recent years. I won’t go into restrictions upon movement and travel, as these deserve more space than can be afforded here. In pursuit of the light-hearted, I stumbled across a law in Luolang Elementary School in Guizhou Province, requiring children to stop and salute passing cars. The intended effect seems to be to reduce accidents, and how can drivers not stop and take notice of school children raising hands in deference? It has, by all accounts, been a wholly successful rule.
So finally, to our very own Nanjing. What rules, written or unwritten, clear of purpose or oblique, guide our little lives in the Southern Capital? Speaking from my relative inexperience of the city, it seems to be a nation-wide rule: be ready for anything.
Each of us, undoubtedly, will have pushed up against rules and regulations in our lifetimes, whether formal codified ones or rules our families and friends enforce. One way of looking at youth is as an extended exercise in learning the “rules of the game” in a low-stakes environment, to prepare us for adulthood, where we uphold, or break, these rules ourselves.
