The People’s Republic of China is genuinely one of the most bizarre countries I the world. It’s a communist dictatorship that really isn’t communist at all. Communist dictatorships always tend to be weird, just look at North Korea. But China has always had an absolutely unique culture and tradition – combine that with a modern dictatorship and a rapidly growing economy and you’ve got something. You can judge a country by the laws they enforce, and there are a number of weird Chinese laws. Many of them are to solve problems that could only ever exist in China; some of them are just pointless. Here are 5 weird Chinese laws that are real.
23,000 Packets Of Cigarettes
In the Chinese county of Gongan, there was a really strange law up until recently. It stated that all local government employees were required to buy and smoke at least 23 thousand packets of cigarettes each year. It was shortly overturned again as almost anyone can see it’s flaws. One of the biggest flaws is that the cost of all those cigarettes far exceeds the average pay of a Chinese government worker. So it really didn’t make sense. It didn’t make sense at all. But the law was introduced to support local cigarette sellers.
Hukou Laws
Known as the Hukou system, there is a set of ancient laws still enforced in China. They divide people into separate classes based on where they live and who their parents were. Being born into a good area and family would guarantee you access to the best education and healthcare money can buy. Being born into a bad area, a poor family, or even a family of immigrants will do the exact opposite for you. These laws are about 15 hundred years old so it makes sense they’re so harsh.
Salute The Cars
In the Chinese province of Guizhou there is a new law attempting to reduce road traffic accidents. They took a strange approach, making it law that all children must stop and salute a car whenever one drives past. It’s a weird one, but apparently it actually works in reducing road accidents.
Be Careful Eating People
In China it seems to be legal to engage in cannibalism. But you can’t deliberately consume the flesh of another man’s wife. Because that would be rude. Eat your own wife, that’s more polite.
One-child Policy
This is probably the notorious of all the weird Chinese laws in modern times, apart from their ban on democracy. Until quite recently, it was the law of the land that all parents could only have one child without buying an incredibly expensive child license. A new licence was required for every child above the limit of just one. This whole policy was to try and curb China’s huge population. It’s the most populated country in the world, and that’s actually a big problem. It’s hard to manage over a billion people. The problem with the law is that most Chinese families wanted a son, as it’s a poor country and men were more likely to become employed. So people would often murder their child if it was a young girl, so they could try again for a son. It’s a real shame. So the one child police law was changed last year, and replaced with a two-child policy.
There are so many more weird Chinese laws – probably enough to make this a Top 100 list.