Following the Rules

China loves a good rule.

Actually, it seems that China loves any rule - good or not. And the more the better.

Many Chinese people especially love the power of enforcing, or not enforcing the rules.

Our complex has two lovely ourdoor swimming pools, traced with fountains and waterfalls, bright blue water encircling large hot tubs. What would be a relaxing place to spend an evening, if it weren't for the rules.

The image above shows the gate to one of our pools. Within your limited purview, you are gazing upon 9 different signs. Each sign displays at least 1 rule. The largest sign displays 15. Precious few of these rules are ever actually enforced, which makes a cool dip much more relaxing than one might suspect.

It seems that enforcement has gone steadily downhill since the beginning of the summer. The lifeguard's favorite rule at the beginning of the summer was the swim cap rule. It may be the case that our lifeguards make a tidy profit off of the sale of swim caps, because at the beginning of the summer no one could be within the gates of the pool without a swim cap. This rule seemed ridiculous to me, and so I asked why. I advise against asking that question very often in China. They looked rather surprised, and told me that I need to wear a swim cap because that is the rule. Sure - I understood that part. But what is the rationale behind the rule? Well, because the management company says it is a rule. And that may well be the only rationale.

They did explain that the swim caps would keep our family healthy, as well as the rest of the people swimming in the pool. Then they offered that we could borrow swim caps at no charge. What, I wonder, would come off of my head and enter the pool that would make someone sick? Would that sick-making substance not make them sick if they share my same swim cap?

As the summer waned on, enforcement became lax on that rule - as many others. No one asked for our health card when we entered yesterday. In fact, no one even asked us to pay. No one asked that we wear our swim caps, either. We enjoyed a relaxing morning at the pool, until one of the lifeguards began smoking.

This is where we are rather typically American - as was pointed out by the German sitting next to us in the pool. Not only do we notice smoke rather quickly, but we are also willing to ask people to stop smoking when in our vicinity. As we did. I told the lifeguard not to smoke. He put his cigarette away. Or more specifically, he threw his still lit cigarette on the ground at his feet and let it smolder for the next 10 minutes or so. At which point, he lit another cigarette and again began smoking. This time, Dave asked him to stop. He moved about 20 meters away, but did not stop.

We looked to another lifeguard. He grinned, and pointed to our heads. Now, in my time in Shanghai I have learned ashamedly little Mandarin but my skills at charades have risen dramatically. My translation of his little move is this:

Hey, man. If you're going to tell my buddy he can't smoke, then you're going to have to put those swim caps back on all of your heads.

It was time for lunch anyway. We went home.

This morning in church, one of the elders gave a strong sermon on evangelizing. Prosyletizing is illegal in China, so this message came as a bit of a surprise. His message was good, but his examples were wonderful.

The man had come to China 11 years ago, running a Bible printing press in Beijing. Business began a bit behind schedule, and at the end of the first year there was no money for Christmas bonuses. Fresh off the boat, this man felt that a token gift of some sort was essential at Christmas and so he pulled together enough money to buy some tapes from the Chinese government.

In China, the government heavily controls the church. There are 4 sanctioned religions, and within each of those religions one must attend a state-condoned place of worship. This of course gives the state power over who preaches, what text is used and what messages are heard. The state apparently put together a cassette tape that year with classic hymns on one side, and dramatic readings of the Bible on the other. A simple but appropriate Christmas present for people making Bibles for a living, he thought.

Within a few days, the man was called for a meeting with the government.

Government: Did you distribute these tapes to your employees?

Bible Man: Yes, I did. Is there a problem?

Government: This is evangelizing. Evangelization is illegal in China.

Bible Man: But these are government tapes - published by your party.

Government: Yes, but it is possible that someone in your office but offended, or felt as if you were trying to pursuade them to join your faith.

Bible Man: It was not my intention to offend anyone. I simply wanted to provide an appropriate Christmas gift to my employees.

Government: We understand. We like you. We'll tell you - someone in your company doesn't like you, and reported you to the authorities. We recommend you do not make your employees angry, so that they will not report you to us. If you are not reported, we do not care what you do.

A love of rules, and of the power of choice enforcement.

Hey, man. If you're going to tell my buddy he can't smoke, then you're going to have to put those swim caps back on all of your heads.