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This is from the People's Daily: Beijing will expand non-smoking policy for Olympic Games There are less than 200 days left before the "smoke-free Beijing Olympics" open. A Beijing official recently announced that “the provisions to ban smoking in public places in Beijing (Draft to Be Approved)" will go into effect in Beijing office spaces, restaurants, and hotels. The new smoking ban will affect at least 4 million smokers in Beijing. In China, there are approximately 350 million smokers... ...Meanwhile, restaurants and hotels will set up clearly-marked and well-ventilated indoor smoking areas or smoking rooms. At least 70% of rooms will be smoke-free. Based on the new requirements, smoking will be banned in offices, meeting places, cafeterias, bathrooms, hallways, and elevators in Beijing authorities, organizations, enterprises and institutions. Previous 'bans' on smoking in public places have gone unheeded. Despite the apparent success of the prohibition on smoking in taxis enacted a few months ago, the China Daily article excerpted below does not bode well for the new smoking ban: Empty tables at city's first no-smoking restaurant Turning away guests is never good for business, but that is what waitresses at Meizhou Dongpo are forced to do if newcomers refuse to pocket their cigarette packets and conform to its no-smoking ethos. Of course, this can have dire consequences on a restaurant's bottom line. "We figure that, if we're going to die, at least we're going to die honorably," said Guo Xiaodong, the deputy director of the restaurant chain. "We are happy to be the first Chinese restaurant in Beijing to ban smoking, but we may not be able to afford the drop in customers," he added. "At least we'll be remembered for championing the cause." Yet Meizhou is already falling victim to its own success. Instead of ashtrays, noisy banter and clouds of thick smoke, it now has clean air, empty tables and eerie silence... ...It just may take a little time to filter through. Last April, for example, the Beijing government wrote to over 30,000 restaurants in Beijing asking them to ban smoking. None of them took up the offer... ..."Guests in the VIPs rooms sometime lock our waitresses out so they can sneak in a quick puff," Guo said. "When the waitresses finally get in, the rooms stink of nicotine." VIA:http://www.danwei.org/cigarettes/beijing_beijing_its_a_smoking.php |
