To what extent do the King of Trees' belief systems act as a means of enforcing societal norms? Social norms are a natural part of any society and influence the course of human behavior. Societal culture is generally based on relationships between like-minded people who share a belief system of accepted norms that leads to trust and predictability, as well as a stable community. Ah Cheng's The King of Trees short stories set in Communist China explore the expectation of conforming to societal rules with stories told from the perspective of characters who question why people blindly follow the expected social norms of society. culture. When various characters in the novels challenge the accepted belief system, they are excluded, ridiculed, or punished as a deterrent. The King of Trees uses compelling stories to illustrate how a belief system, whether imposed or implicit, enforces social norms. Very different belief systems can result in stable cultures and communities. The short story The King of Trees focuses on how a powerful government can demand what is socially acceptable. The novels are set in revolutionary China, amid major cultural changes dictated by the government as necessary for successful living together. Social standards are set by a popular government leader, Mao Zedong. The belief system imposed by his radical change in society, from a free-thinking population to one focused on the collective good, was the foundation of what was socially acceptable. The new social norm of working hard for the greater good is emphasized when in the first short story of The King of Trees, also titled The King of Trees, many characters are introduced, including LiLi, a spirited educator. of paper... non-conformist attitudes, and in The Chess King, the chess madman defeating the old chess master symbolizes the act of the defeat of the old culture by the new. The King of Trees describes how the belief systems of revolutionary China imposed new social norms on the population. Understanding the power of the social norms imposed in China during this time helps the reader understand how citizens' individuality might have been expressed as well as why the government felt threatened by such behavior. One of the themes of The King of Trees is that individuality persists despite what is socially acceptable, and understanding the concept of social norms allows one to appreciate both sides of the difficulty of conforming to social norms. The king of trees. Trans. Bonnie S. McDougall. New York: New Directions, 2010. Print.