奇速英语

北京新的戒烟措施

A tough new ban on smoking indoor was carried out across the Chinese capital Monday, with lighting up now prohibited in all offices, shopping malls, restaurants, bars and airports. Many outdoor public places such as the areas outside kindergartens and hospitals will also be required to be smoke-free.

Businesses and institutions that break the law will face fines of up to 10,000 yuan ($1,600). Bernhard Schwartländer, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Beijing, says it's a "major advance" in tobacco control in China, where more cigarettes are smoked than anywhere else in the world.

It's not the first time Beijing has tried to solve its smoking problem -- a previous ban launched in 2008 was widely ignored. However, unlike previous efforts, this law has teeth. Individuals must pay 200 yuan ($32) and businesses risk a penalty of up to 10,000 yuan ($1,600). Anyone who breaks the law three times will find themselves named and shamed on a government website.

China is home to some 300 million smokers and some four million live in Beijing. More than one in every three cigarettes in the world is smoked in China. And those cigarettes are cheap -- as little as $1.50 for a popular brand like Zhongnanhai.

Smoking is a handy icebreaker in China, a way to greet someone and few interactions aren't made easier by offering a cigarette. While the new ban will limit tobacco advertising, it might already be too late for the next generation. In 2013, a WHO survey found that among five to six year old children, almost nine in ten can recognize at least one brand of cigarettes and one in five expect to be smokers when they grow up.

Some 45% of men smoke daily, according to 2013 figures, compared with just 2.1% of women -- this means that Chinese women endure some of the highest rates of exposure to second hand smoke in the world. It's hoped that this army of female non-smokers might prove to be a secret weapon in enforcing the new ban.