The first time you set foot on Samoan soil, you will always be stunned by the scene in front of you.

Walking along the coastline, you can't see a walled house. The roof of every household is like an open umbrella, and only a few thick wooden pillars support it. Even the outline of doors and windows can't be found.

Passing by the village in the evening, you can clearly see the scene of people sitting around eating in the house, children chasing in the open space, adults laughing and chatting, and no one minds the eyes cast by passers-by.

According to local guides, this is the daily life of Samoa, an island nation spread across the South Pacific Ocean, made up of 10 islands, with a total area not much larger than Xiamen, but with more than 200,000 inhabitants.

Here, "keeping the door closed at night" is not a legend, and "no courtyard wall" is the norm, because the local people have a unique "transparent culture".

The traditional house in Samoa is called "Falai". There are no walls, so it is shelved with tree trunks and the roof is covered with coconut leaves. When farmers go out to farm during the day, their doors are left open and nothing is locked.

In the evening, do not need to close the door, put the coconut leaf curtains hanging under the roof and block the flowing water.

If you are so unguarded and not afraid of accidents, local police statistics show that there will be less than 100 theft cases in 2024, and the number of criminal cases reported is only one-fifth of the average level of Pacific island countries.

Not only is there no place to live, but there are also no privacy boundaries for Samoa people to live together. Men and women participate in the Kava ceremony together, and seats are ranked according to the chief, not by gender.

The women will gather together, and the men will sit around and talk about fishing techniques.Who do you want to go to the row do not have to say in advance, go directly into the door.

At the time of the harvest, men and women are sitting together to eat baked pigs.But they are not completely untouched, the bedroom is separated by blankets, valuable things are placed in wooden boxes, privacy should be kept.

The maintenance of this transparent life has something to do with the local social system. Samoa has a Matai system, that is, the chieftain system, which is collectively managed by families.

The chief is in charge of land distribution. He mediates if there is a conflict between families, and he also focuses on everyone's conduct. There is a rule here. If one person breaks his word, the whole family will be affected. In this way, no one dares to steal anything casually, and the cost of breaking his word is too high.

The economic foundation is also crucial. 77% of the local people rely on agriculture to make a living. Every household grows coconuts and taro. The resources are evenly distributed, and there are no particularly rich or poor people.

Everyone has no shortage of basic things in their hands, so there are few conflicts because of resource grabbing. In addition, more than 80% of people believe in Christianity, go to church every week, and gradually form the concept of honesty and mutual assistance.

In addition to the average annual temperature of 28 ° C here, it is especially hot, without walls, the ferry is coolly ventilated, it is adapted to the climate, and at the same time the distance between people is closer.

However, with the development of globalization, this transparent life has also begun to change. In 2023, the tourism industry has recovered to 83% of its pre-epidemic level. In addition, many people who have gone out to work have returned, bringing a lifestyle outside.

Now the newly built houses in the city have begun to have gardens with walls, and some young families have also installed wooden doors and locks for Farley.

But the tradition has not been completely lost. The countryside is still the same, most of which are still Falai without walls. More than 65% of rural families still keep the habit of staying closed at night.

Whether it is in the city or in the countryside, once the festival, households will open their doors and do collective activities, can see that tradition and modernity are balanced here.

Comparing life in Samoa with our modern cities, the difference is evident.

Neighbors in the city may not know the door to the door, the fax address must be hidden from the unit number, social software will also set up several layers of authority, in fact, because of the lack of confidence, the heart is always a little anxiety.

In fact, Samoa¡¯s transparency model has its own peculiarities, with a population of only 210,000, a familiar society with balanced resources, a model that cannot be moved directly into a large industrialized society.

But its wisdom is worth learning, is to replace a portion of physical protection with interpersonal trust.

This kind of trust can reduce the cost of many social operations, and everyone can live more practically and happily. This is not to say that modern privacy protection is not good, but there is one more way of thinking.

Therefore, Samoa¡¯s ¡°transparency¡± is not that it doesn¡¯t care about privacy at all, but that it has changed the focus of protecting privacy from the physical isolation of the closed door to the trust between people, which is a way of life that reaches consensus and is based on cultural traditions.

As globalization deepens, Samoa will definitely slowly adjust its borders for transparency, but the core estimate of ¡°trust¡± will not change.

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