Could the interpretation of traffic lights be culturally different? The meaning of the traffic lights was not determined purely on a whimsical Red Guard decision. Culturally speaking, red for the Chinese has been the color of joy, vibrancy, celebration for longer than human memory. In American business environment, wearing red for women is often considered a “power” dress color. This high energy color makes sense that it means GO. Meanwhile, a cool, tranquil color like green makes more sense meaning STOP. This combination made sense to the Chinese people. Also, you have to imagine China back then with far fewer cars and slower traffic sharing the road with bicycles, ox carts and donkeys. As China later decided to conform to international standards, the meaning of the colors changed to red as STOP; green GO. Surely, there were many casualties and fatalities at the cost of progress. Paying the cost is an inevitable side effect of change.
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