What a bunch of baloney.

Ideally, traffic regulations and laws are social contracts, formulated and enacted by following a due process, hopefully with representation from all walks of life. In a democracy, they gain legitimacy by including all the people into discussion who care to participate in the democratic process. Laws and regulations create order so that we don’t have to design and apply our own logic in every possible situations in life, at least in our public life when we must interact with other people. This makes a more efficient social structure and a more just society.

The fact that everyone in Shanghai traffic must carry out a “decision-making based on following the rules that are appropriate for the situation at hand” is simply lawlessness, pure and simple. This is what a beast must face and do in a jungle. 50 years ago Taipei (Taiwan) traffic was a similar mess until after the democracy took hold and several mayors in Taipei started to enforce the traffic regulations. Now Taipei traffic is impressively orderly, which probably is not an indication that Taiwanese have lost their “amazing Chinese culture”.

This is not a forum to discuss the political legitimacy of current regime in China. I’d only say that people in this “amazing Chinese culture” have an equally amazing lack of respect for law and order. Shanghai traffic is just a reflection of that and indeed of the “inner workings of the Chinese mind”. But please, don’t relate that to “Chinese culture”.