INTRO: segment number six -- "Smoking"

THERE ARE SIMPLY TOO MANY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHINESE SOCIETY AND WESTERN SOCIETIES TO ELABORATE ON IN A BRIEF RADIO REPORT...BUT ONE IN SPECIFIC DOES STAND OUT...SMOKING.  IN SEGMENT SIX OF OUR TEN PART SERIES POSTCARDS FROM CHINA...ERIC OLANDER EXPLORES WHO SMOKES WHAT AND WHERE. (:14)

STORY:

IN PARTS OF THE WEST NEW ANTI-SMOKING ORDINANCES...COMBINED WITH THE HIGH PRICE OF CIGARETTES AND AN OBSESSION WITH FITNESS HAVE ALL CONTRIBUTED TO THE SHRINKING OF THE TOBACCO MARKET.  BUT IN CHINA THE SITUATION IS VERY DIFFERENT.

SOCIAL...GOVERNMENTAL AND MEDIA FORCES ARE ALL ENCOURAGING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE...ESPECIALLY YOUNG MEN...TO PICK UP THE HABIT.  IN FACT SMOKING IS SO PERVASIVE THAT IT SEEMS AS IF ALMOST EVERY MAN EITHER HAS A CIGARETTE IN HIS MOUTH OR A PACK IN HIS BREAST POCKET.  THIS OF COURSE IS AN EXAGGERATION....BUT IT DOES ILLUSTRATES THE LARGER POINT OF HOW TRULY WIDESPREAD SMOKING IS IN CHINESE SOCIETY.  AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS OF TRAVELING THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY I SOON DISCOVERED THAT THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NO-SMOKING AREA.  SURE...IN TRAIN STATIONS...HOSPITALS AND AIRPORTS THERE ARE SIGNS REQUESTING PEOPLE NOT TO LIGHT UP...BUT BECAUSE THERE IS NO ENFORCEMENT....MOST PEOPLE SIMPLY IGNORE THE REQUEST.(:50)

WHO SMOKES?  WELL THAT DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU ARE...IN THE COUNTRYSIDE OR IN THE CITY.  IN THE MORE RURAL PARTS IT'S ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY MEN.  ASKED WHY WOMEN DON'T SMOKE...MEN TOLD ME THAT IT ISN'T POLITE...IT DOESN'T LOOK GOOD AND SHOULDN'T BE ENCOURAGED.   ASKED TO EXPLAIN THE APPARENT DOUBLE STANDARD THAT PERMITS MEN TO SMOKE BUT NOT WOMEN...MOST MEN JUST SMILED AND SAID THAT'S JUST THE WAY IT IS. (1:11)

IN THE URBAN AREAS THE SITUATION IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. IN CITIES SUCH AS BEIJING...SHANGHAI...SHENZHEN AND GUANGZHOU...SMOKING AMONG WOMEN IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY POPULAR.  THIS IS CONSISTENT WITH TRENDS IN THE WEST WHERE WOMEN ARE THE FASTEST GROWING SEGMENT OF THE TOBACCO MARKET.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT FACTOR IS THE AGE AT WHICH PEOPLE FIRST PICKUP THE HABIT.  THIS IS DEPENDENT MUCH MORESO UPON AN INDIVIDUAL'S EDUCATION THAN ANYTHING ELSE SIMPLY BECAUSE SMOKING IS PROHIBITED IN HIGH SCHOOL.  SO AMONG THE UNEDUCATED THE BEGINNING AGE IS AROUND TWELVE OR THIRTEEN....WHEREAS HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES TEND TO START AT SEVENTEEN OR EIGHTEEN.  THIS IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE RESEARCH NOW INDICATES THAT THE EARLIER ONE PICKS UP THE HABIT THE MORE DIFFICULT IT IS TO QUIT. (1:49)

CHOICE IS NOT A PROBLEM FOR TOBACCO CONSUMERS.  IN THE CITY OF CHANGSHA IN HUNAN PROVINCE FOR EXAMPLE STREET VENDORS OFFER NO LESS THAN 45 DIFFERENT KINDS OF CIGARETTES...NOT COUNTING THE MORE EXPENSIVE IMPORTED BRANDS.  SURPRISINGLY THERE IS LESS CHOICE IN THE URBAN AREAS.  VENDORS IN SHANGHAI AND BEIJING SELL ONLY ABOUT A DOZEN IMPORTED AND DOMESTIC BRANDS.

THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT IS WALKING A VERY FINE LINE...SHORT TERM PROFITS VERSUS LONG TERM COSTS.  SINCE THE GOVERNMENT IS THE MAIN CIGARETTE MANUFACTURER...PRODUCING MORE THAN 60 BILLION A YEAR...AND THE LARGEST PROVIDER OF HEALTH CARE...THE DILEMMA IS OBVIOUS.(2:21)

THE GOVERNMENT'S DECISION THOUGH IS CLEAR BASED ON THE FACTS THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS LIBERALIZING THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY TO PROVIDE FOREIGN COMPANIES GREATER ACCESS TO THE CHINESE MARKET...AND THAT THERE IS NO NATIONAL PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN TO MAKE CONSUMERS AWARE OF THE DANGERS RELATED TO SMOKING....PROFITS ARE BEING GENERATED AT THE EXPENSE OF THE POPULATION'S HEALTH.   ONLY WHEN MILLIONS OF PEOPLE BEGIN TO CLOG THE NATION'S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM WITH RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS....LUNG CANCER AND PREGNANCY COMPLICATIONS MAY THE GOVERNMENT REALIZE THE TRUE COSTS RELATED TO SMOKING.

WITH A POSTCARD FROM CHINA....I'M ERIC OLANDER IN NAN CHANG. (3:00) 

OUTRO:

IN OUR NEXT POSTCARD ERIC CROSSES THE STRAITS AND REPORTS FROM TAIWAN ON THE ISLAND'S BOOMING MEDIA INDUSTRY.

© BBC World Service 1993