介绍:
What's up with Chinese Men and Smoking?
The vast majority of men in China smoke, and nearly half of young men will die from it if they don’t stop. This is according to a new study published in the Lancet that also shows female smokers are a scarcity in the country. So what’s the deal – if it's killing them, why do they do it?
CRI's Michael Butterworth moderates the discussion between Wu You and Lincoln Van der Westhuizen.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DISCUSSION
The discussion started with a question about why smoking is so common in China. Our Chinese panelist thought it was due to two factors: first, because everyone else is doing it! Besides that, it also serves a social purpose: offering someone a cigarette is often meant as a gesture of hospitality (though we’re not sure offering lung poison is the most hospitable thing you can do for someone…). Even Michael Butterworth, clearly not a Chinese man, has been offered cigarettes by Chinese men after just stepping in a bar.
Of course, cigarettes play different roles in different countries – as our western panelists pointed out, school-boys often take their first puff as a result of peer pressure. For some, the illicit activity is even a rite of passage of sorts. Whatever the reason, it does seem to be mostly a part of social culture for men, and not so much for women.
China's capital is trying to do its part and has updated its somewhat out-dated smoking ban. Now you have to pay 200 RMB, so for chain-smokers on the streets Beijing the cost of lighting up in public isn’t just pocket change anymore!
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