US media: up to 0.35 billion smokers in China should take intervention measures to educate

The US “Huffington Post” article on April 11, original title: China smoke pipe! Western countries are discouraging people from smoking in various ways (including strict smoking ban and disgusting pictures on cigarette boxes). When I came to the center of Xi’an, I found that smokers were almost everywhere.

At present, China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of cigarettes, with 0.35 billion smokers. For most of my days in China, the smoky smell of smoke was almost standard in daily life. I have seen bus drivers smoking in cars full of pupils. And when I asked a taxi driver if he wore a mask when the air was seriously polluted, he smiled and said to me that when you smoked a pack of cigarettes every day, you still wore a mask?

What is more worrying is that it seems to create a wrong culture. When Chinese men who go shopping, play mahjong and attend weddings smoke everywhere, it will be regarded as impolite not to salute others. Although compared with men, only 3% of Chinese women smoke. This proportion looks very low, but there are data showing that there are more and more young female smokers in China, because in their view smoking is regarded as a more attractive symbol.

In addition, cigarettes can be bought in China at a price far lower than that in most countries, and the cheapest is only 7 yuan per pack, which is almost difficult to prevent smokers from buying cigarettes. The British medical journal Lancet warned that if the current popular smoking trend continues, 2 million Chinese will die of smoking by 2030. China’s National Health Planning Commission plans to implement a nationwide smoking ban in public places by the end of this year. Even so, who says only 25% of Chinese adults are well aware of the health hazards of smoking. It seems that some doctors are not in this column. The data shows that 60% of doctors in China smoke, and some are also shrouded in smoke when seeing a doctor for you.

In China in the 16th century, tobacco was still unknown. In 1637, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty ordered the capture of tobacco sellers and beheaded them to show the public. This is obviously too much, but China needs to take intervention measures and let people receive some serious education. However, just like many bad habits in China, it will take some time. (Translated by Nicol Weber, Ding rain Sun)

The US “Huffington Post” article on April 11, original title: China smoke pipe! Western countries are discouraging people from smoking in various ways (including strict smoking ban and disgusting pictures on cigarette boxes). But when I came to the center of Xi’an, I found