Smoking Rules Get Tough in Shenzhen

Lucy Liu , July 13, 2015 8:59am (updated)

Shenzhen is starting to take the lead in restricting smoking in public places. The city has released a list of venues where smoking will be completely banned starting in March, according to Xinhua.

According to a notice issued by Shenzhen Health and Family Planning Commission, smoking will be banned in all public government offices, meeting rooms of state organs, nurseries, kindergartens, schools, hospitals, libraries, archives, exhibition halls, science and technological museums, art galleries and other exhibition places, theatres, cinemas, parks, banks, shopping malls, hotels, restaurant, elevators (finally!) and exhibition centres.

While it might seem like common sense to ban smoking in places like kindergartens and nurseries, Shenzhen does plan to take this a step further in the future. The regulations point out that smoking will be “limited” in other venues such as bars and cafés, but not until 2016.

Home page photo credit: The Guardian