Should Beijing Ban Smoking in Restaurants?

Last week a few foreign media outlets (Reuters and ABC) picked up on a China Daily story about one Beijing restaurant's attempts to ban smoking. This English-language China Daily report itself appears to be an update of an earlier story in the Chinese press from last October that reported on the restaurant's original decision to introduce the smoking ban. Both the original report and the foreign rewrites (the Reuters report being filed under the Oddly Enough News tag) were light-hearted stories that bemoaned but also chuckled at this ridiculous attempt at stopping Beijing customers from enjoying their obligatory post-meal puff. The articles relied on humorous stories of customers locking fuwuyuan out of private rooms and included the at-first-glance-startling statistic that the Liulitun branch of Meizhou Dongpo has seen customer numbers plummet to "about 80 percent of that enjoyed by other restaurants across the street."

But the China Daily article on which these foreign reports were based was riddled with errors and inconsistencies and also missed the big story - that the Beijing government IS indeed planning to ban smoking in all the city's restaurants, as well as other public places, including hotels, hostels, training centers and resorts.

The most obvious problem with all the reports is their claim that this branch of Meizhou Dongpo is in fact the "city's first non-smoking restaurant." This is plainly untrue – vegetarian favorite Pure Lotus has been a non-smoking restaurant since it first opened, and as a comments over at Danwei's post on this topic point out, vegetarian restaurant Still Thoughts (Jingsi) also enforces a non-smoking policy. In addition to these obvious examples, Dr. Evelyn Fang of the Beijing United Family Hospital just last year put together a list of 135 Beijing restaurants that offer smoke-free areas (that's Beijing reported on it here and have since included info about restaurant smoking policies in our online directories). Dr. Fang also noted that Starbucks, Sizzler and the chic Red Capital Club are all smoke-free venues.

For those interested in taking a look at Dr. Fang's list (and adding to it), you can e-mail her at evelyn.fang@ufh.com.cn.

The big news is that Beijing is considering putting into effect a new, more stringent anti-smoking law that will increase the coverage of the current smoking restrictions. At the moment, smoking is banned (with differing levels of success) in schools, libraries, cinemas, theaters, museums, galleries, stores, banks, post offices and on public transport. The proposed new law, which is currently open to public comment – you can leave your thoughts here – will expand the areas covered to include offices, hotels, restaurants, hostels, training centers, resorts, the areas surrounding gyms, health clubs and open public places. Smoking will also be banned in the offices, meeting places, cafeterias, bathrooms, hallways, and elevators of Beijing's government buildings, enterprises and institutions. However, restaurants and hotels will be able to set up clearly marked and well-ventilated indoor smoking areas or smoking rooms. The law stipulates that a fine of up to RMB 50 can be imposed on those who break the ban.

The introduction of the law is said to have its basis in both a pledge made by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao back in 2004 that the Beijing Olympics would be a smoke-free games and also in an attempt to rein in the huge effects that smoking is having on the health of Chinese people. The latest estimates put the number of Chinese smokers at somewhere above 300 million, with 5,000,000 of these being under-age smokers. The International Herald Tribune estimates that smoking "kills about a million people a year in China and costs an estimated $5 billion annually in medical bills." They also raise the point that a large chunk of the central government's revenue comes from tobacco, with 240 billion yuan, or $31 billion, in tobacco-related taxes being collected in 2005. Moreover, according to the BBC, "around there are currently 2,000 smoking-related deaths per day in China. By 2050, the researchers expect this number could rise to 8,000 a day - some three million people a year."

According to China Daily, this new smoking ban would affect at least 4 million smokers in Beijing. The public has until Feb 1 to submit their comments, and, if there are no major objections, the law is expected to go into effect early this year. The draft law comes close on the heels of what appears to be a successful introduction of a smoking ban in Beijing's taxis that was introduced last October.

Links and Sources:
China Daily: Empty tables at city's first no-smoking restaurant
ABC: Customers resist Beijing restaurant smoking ban
Reuters: Customers desert smoke-free restaurant
Sina: 北京:无烟餐馆推行不顺
http://finance.sina.com.cn/consume/20071114/11434173046.shtml
Beijing Today: First smoke-free Chinese restr opens
Beijing People's Governement Legislative Affairs Office: 关于《北京市公共场所禁止吸烟的若干规定》的起草说明
Beijing People's Governement Legislative Affairs Office: Feedback Form
Danwei: Beijing, Beijing — it's a smoking town
People's Daily: Beijing will expand non-smoking policy for Olympic Games
that's Beijing: City Scene – Butting Out
that's Beijing: City Scene – Up in Smoke
tbjblog: Puffing Out the Dragon
China Daily: Beijing bans smoking in cabs in run-up to Olympics (Oct ’07)
IHT: Ban smoking in China? A state-run industry has objections
BBC: China's cigarette threat
China Daily: China promises a "non-smoking" Olympics