Public spaces means offices or other working environments as well as public transportation, schools, daycare centers, youth activity centers, gyms, historical sites, and hospitals. (Yes, up until now it wasn’t illegal to smoke inside a hospital).

While Beijing first proposed a ban in 2008, it was vigorously opposed by China’s powerful cigarette industry. China’s tobacco companies have been able to, for the most part, keep warning labels off their products and ensure cigarettes are sold at low prices. Chinese cigarette manufacturers continue to provide incentives to the government by earning huge revenues and employing a vast number of workers. It therefore remains to be seen how strictly the new smoking ban will be enforced.

China is the world leader in tobacco use, with over 300 million cigarette smokers. Cigarette use has long been entrenched in Chinese culture as a social custom, with cigarettes commonly given as gifts.

Chinese officials were banned from smoking in public places last year, while Chinese films and television programs were banned from depicting characters who smoke.

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(Image from chinamusings.com)

It’s illegal to smoke indoors in Guangzhou, but we’ve all seen it: the niubi guy who puffs away anyway, with smoke wafting over to tables filled with non-smokers.

Currently in Guangzhou, police are ordered to issue a warning to anybody they find violating the city’s smoking by-law, but that could change soon.  China Daily confirmed that the city is studying dispensing with the whole warning thing, and instead reverting directly to an RMB50 fine.

The move makes some sense, as most smokers are likely aware that now, even if caught, they won’t get anything more than a little piece of paper with an official warning on it.  It’s not exactly a strong deterrent.

Smoking, as everybody knows, is still relatively common in bars, clubs, and restaurants across Guangzhou and the PRD even though it’s officially illegal.  China Daily says because of this, many in the City of Five Rams welcome the change:

Chen Wenjie, a Guangzhou office worker, said the draft is an improvement. “But a fine of only 50 yuan for smokers is still not severe enough to deter law breakers,” he said.

Wang Fangwei, a local housewife, said the draft amendment is good, but she does not think it could be fully carried out.

“Many law enforcement agencies in the city are lax on punishment in fighting illegal smoking,” she said.

Also, by the time enforcement authorities arrive, the smokers might have stopped because it takes only two to three minutes to finish a cigarette, she added.

She called for more concrete and effective measures, such as fining the operators of restaurants instead of smokers.

How effective has the current law been?  There have been 1,200 complaints about smoking in non-smoking areas in Guangzhou so far this year.  How many have been fined?  Exactly one.

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