Posted by James Flanagan
Chinese New Year has come and gone, and we are well into the year of the ox. Here is a quick little interesting article about the divergence between culture and health guidelines: “Cigarettes as gifts undermines China’s anti-smoking” ()
Despite knowing all the harms of smoking, Li Pingping, who lives in Shanghai, still decided to buy two cartons of cigarettes as presents for her father back in southwest China’s Chongqing.
“When you pick up gifts for the elders during festivals or anniversaries, cigarettes are a nice choice,” she said.
There were also a couple of numbers to keep in mind about smoking in China:
[Ministry of Health] statistics show that about 350 million people smoke in China, or almost 36 percent of the population aged above 15, and about one million die of smoking-related ailments annually.
The number of young smokers aged from 13 to 18 has hit 130 million in China.
About the Author
