As a smoker one of the best things about coming back to the UK was the public smoking ban and high cost of cigarettes. Yes I said that right, GOOD thing. I knew that being back in the UK I would finally be able to quit smoking and have now tapered down from a pack a day to a pack a week (end date set for next week, wish me luck!).
With a descent pack of cigarettes in China costing no more than £1 and people smoking everywhere, me and pretty much everyone I knew found it impossible to quit smoking. Now when I say there is smoking everywhere in China, I do mean everywhere. Common sights in China are of office workers smoking in the middle of their cubicles, people smoking inside closed elevators, smoking inside movie theatres and taxi drivers smoking with the windows closed. I was even shocked to learn after a doctor in Shanghai lighted up in front of me whilst examining me in a hospital, that over 60% of Chinese medical workers smoke, the highest in the world.
A news story just published by Bloomberg here reports that the Chinese government have just passed new smoking regulations in an effort to reduce public smoking and will come into effect May 2011. This includes banning smoking in 28 types of buildings such as hotels and restaurants, as well as banning outdoor smoking areas on frequented pedestrian roadways. Additionally, businesses who fail to enforce the laws by not putting up mandatory ‘no smoking’ signs and asking people to stop smoking in non-smoking areas can be fined between RMB1,000-20,000 (approx. £100-£2,000).
