Current Smoking Rate: The current smoking rate among people aged 15 and above in China is 23.2%, with men (43.9%) higher than women (1.8%), and rural areas (24.9%) higher than urban areas (20.9%). Compared to 2022, the current smoking rate has decreased by 0.9 percentage points, with a decrease of 1.4 percentage points for men and 2.1 percentage points for urban areas.
(Figures 1-3)
Tobacco Control Information Promotion: 63.9% of respondents had seen tobacco control information in the past 30 days, with males (65.9%) higher than females (61.6%), urban areas (68.0%) higher than rural areas (60.6%), and the 15-24 age group (78.2%) higher than other age groups. The proportion of respondents who had seen tobacco control information online in the past 30 days was 40.1%, an increase of 5.1 percentage points compared to 2022. Urban areas (43.4%) were higher than rural areas (37.6%), and the 15-24 age group (64.6%) was higher than other age groups. (Figures 4-5)
My wife was involved in an international thingy about tobacco control and harm recently and when she came back with gifts of ciggies from the chinese delegation I had a double take so I looked into Chinese attitudes and anti smoking measures. It seemed wildly poor form to gift tobacco obviously.
It was very informative, and I came away from it thinking they were doing a reasonable job given the size of the state and the low reach of government authority into rural population/attitudes towards smoking in east and south east Asia.
The gift thing is that apparently tobacco is considered a respectful and universal gift, but also it probably allowed them to spruke/talk about their national monopoly which they were very proud of, and took perverse joy in ridiculing the state of Australian black markets pointing out that it was inevitable if prices kept rising and that Australia should nationalise tobacco.
I probably shouldn’t be that frustrated that nobody knows much about the state of things, I didn’t. I didn’t have strong opinions on it though. So thanks for providing the quotes.
It seemed wildly poor form to gift tobacco obviously.
Culture clash will do that tobacco is still a huge part of Chinese tradition and life but it is changing with each year the rate of smoking decreasing as younger people are less and less interested. Basically none of the younger guys at my work smoke and smoking was never really big amongst women.
The gift thing is that apparently tobacco is considered a respectful and universal gift
High quality (premium) cigarettes are THE gift especially for major events (usually weddings). 中华, 南京, 黄鹤楼, 芙蓉王 being some of the most popular brands. I would genuinely not believe someone if they said they went to a wedding or similar event in China and weren’t offered/gifted at least one pack.
Edit:
Other gifts are common too red packets, premium alcohol, fruit, premium tea and others but cigarettes are definitely one of the most common.
High quality (premium) cigarettes are THE gift especially for major events
Yeah these were crazy, ornate glossy packaging, golden (possibly gold coated or gold leaf foil inside) they smelled amazing. I’ve been clean about 15 years and damned if I didn’t want to light one up.
I don’t think it was deliberately disrespectful, no more so than the way diplomatic gifts usually carry layers of meaning and assertions of superiority and independence.
The 2024 Chinese CDC Tobacco survey findings:
And more interesting info in the full pdf:
The Findings PDF
Thanks for being less lazy than me.
My wife was involved in an international thingy about tobacco control and harm recently and when she came back with gifts of ciggies from the chinese delegation I had a double take so I looked into Chinese attitudes and anti smoking measures. It seemed wildly poor form to gift tobacco obviously.
It was very informative, and I came away from it thinking they were doing a reasonable job given the size of the state and the low reach of government authority into rural population/attitudes towards smoking in east and south east Asia.
The gift thing is that apparently tobacco is considered a respectful and universal gift, but also it probably allowed them to spruke/talk about their national monopoly which they were very proud of, and took perverse joy in ridiculing the state of Australian black markets pointing out that it was inevitable if prices kept rising and that Australia should nationalise tobacco.
I probably shouldn’t be that frustrated that nobody knows much about the state of things, I didn’t. I didn’t have strong opinions on it though. So thanks for providing the quotes.
Culture clash will do that tobacco is still a huge part of Chinese tradition and life but it is changing with each year the rate of smoking decreasing as younger people are less and less interested. Basically none of the younger guys at my work smoke and smoking was never really big amongst women.
High quality (premium) cigarettes are THE gift especially for major events (usually weddings). 中华, 南京, 黄鹤楼, 芙蓉王 being some of the most popular brands. I would genuinely not believe someone if they said they went to a wedding or similar event in China and weren’t offered/gifted at least one pack.
Edit: Other gifts are common too red packets, premium alcohol, fruit, premium tea and others but cigarettes are definitely one of the most common.
Yeah these were crazy, ornate glossy packaging, golden (possibly gold coated or gold leaf foil inside) they smelled amazing. I’ve been clean about 15 years and damned if I didn’t want to light one up.
I don’t think it was deliberately disrespectful, no more so than the way diplomatic gifts usually carry layers of meaning and assertions of superiority and independence.