The Heavy Smoke Over China

LIFESTYLE

The Heavy Smoke Over China Why China smokes, and what the Government is doing to stop it

By Alex Hoegberg

T

here are about 350 million smokers in China, a million of whom will, according to the statistics, not survive another year.

Hangzhou’s People’s Congress approved a ban on smoking in public and work places in early 2010, a year before the rest of the country followed suit. But the lucrative tobacco industry stands in opposition to any serious attempts to curb tobacco use in what is the world’s heaviest smoking nation. How high must the cost of smoking-induced illnesses become before it can outweigh the mind-boggling profits of the tobacco industry?

Your Beneficiary, the Tobacco Industry With about 2.38 trillion cigarettes produced in the country in 2010, one third of the world’s cigarettes are manufactured in China, most of them for domestic use. The Tobacco Monopoly Administration, a central government body created in the 1980’s, runs the China National Tobacco Corporation.

Through the Tobacco Monopoly, the government is involved at every level of the industry, from marketing, sales and distribution, down to the production. This monopoly, controlling about 98 percent of the domestic market, has left little space for international rivals to progress in the country.

In 2008, Phillip Morris entered the domestic market, after signing a license with China National Tobacco Corporation to produce Marlboros at two factories. Other than that, the Chinese tobacco market is virtually closed to outside competition.

The Marlboro Man still sums up the image of smokers in the eyes of young Chinese men; courageous, tough, and cool.

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Earlier this year, the Industrial Bank Co Ltd released a report stating that the China National Tobacco Corporation, which is the world’s largest tobacco manufacturer

with over 900 brands, may have an annual net profit larger than that of Walmart and the banking giant HSBC. In 2010, its sales amounted to RMB 770.4 billion.

M o r e o v e r, i n t h e s a m e y e a r they passed the total profit of the world’s three biggest listed tobacco companies: Philip Morris International Inc., British American Tobacco Plc, and Altaria Group.

The staggering dimension of the Chinese tobacco industry i s s t u f f i n g t h e g o v e r n m e n t ’s mattresses with money, both on a national and local level. In 2010, with an amount exceeding RMB 473 million, tobacco was Beijing’s biggest single source of tax revenues.

On a local level, individual tobacco farmers make less money out of growing tobacco than they’d get from other types of crop, but being in tobacco-growing areas they are sometimes expected to set a certain amount of land aside for tobacco plants. In return, they may get support from their local government in form of subsidized fertilizers or water rations in times of drought. An unfathomable amount of jobs are created in the various levels of processing tobacco leaves and manufacturing the finished product. China National Tobacco Corporation is one of the country’s biggest employers, providing over half a million of employees, in everything from farming and production to retailing, with a living. There are whole communities and towns who are virtually entirely financed by the local tobacco industry, and subsequently completely dependent on it.

Besides creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, by 2010, regional cigarette producers had sponsored more than 100 primary schools and primary school libraries throughout the country, the majority of them located in Xinjiang and Tibet. Many of these schools are named after topselling brands, some showing the company’s logo on the school uniforms. The Sichuan Tobacco Hope Primary School, built by the local tobacco company after the tragic earthquake in 2008, billboards the slogan “Talent comes from hard work- Tobacco helps you become talented” on the front gates of the school.

Similar slogans can be found in dozens of rural villages in the western provinces, reminding the children of the benefactor –tobacco – that made their education possible.

On its website, China National Tobacco Corporation lists many other charitable activities it has undertaken, maintaining the

goodwill of the population. For example, it made a RMB 10 million donation to a women’s development fund campaign in 2010, and a RMB 5 million donation to drought-hit Yunnan province last year.

that they simply don’t smoke. It therefore stands to reason that surveys made on the topic may be slightly skewed, as smoking women often deny this bad habit outside of their closest social circle.

Who, Why, and at What Cost?

Culturally, it’s difficult to come to terms with smoking as cigarettes are in many cases used as a sign of appreciation or simply as a mean to gain a favor. A few decades ago, a nice brand of cigarettes was very expensive

W i t h t h e t o b a c c o i n d u s t r y ’s staggering figures both for production and profit, it is not surprising that China is home to an approximated 350 million

Regional cigarette producers have sponsored more than 100 primary schools throughout the country. Many of these schools are named after top-selling brands, some showing the company’s logo on the school uniforms. The Sichuan Tobacco Hope Primary School, built by the local tobacco company after the tragic earthquake in 2008, billboards the slogan “Talent comes from hard work- Tobacco helps you become talented” on the front gates of the school.

compared to the average income in China, and consequently offering cigarettes as a gift was quite the luxury. Today, a pack of cigarettes may cost anything from a couple of yuan, to a couple of hundred; although decent cigarettes no longer come at the cost of a week’s salary, they still remain an established and wellaccepted form of gift. Packs of expensive cigarettes are bestowed on businessmen as a tool to woo them for future business arrangements. Also, a cigarette (of whatever brand it is the person next to you may be smoking) is offered as a conversation starter or social lubricant.

Sharing a smoke may be a sign of goodwill and camaraderie, and thus, turning it down implies the opposite. For non-smokers, excusing yourself by stating that you “can’t” smoke is enough, but if the person who offers this sign of friendship knows that you smoke, there aren’t many ways you can smoothly decline their offer. For those of us stemming from countries where cigarettes are expensive and smoking is generally considered a filthy habit, being offered a cigarette when you’re already puffing away on one seems illogical, just as insisting that your new acquaintance should smoke one of yours feels overly imposing. However, as in many other situations in China, showing generosity on one hand, and appreciation on the other, makes it obligatory both to offer cigarettes and to accept them once offered, least you’d risk losing both your own and your conversation partner’s face.

It is estimated that one million people in China die every year as

smokers, about a third of the world’s smokers.

About 60 percent of adult Chinese males smoke, compared to 3-4 percent of Chinese women. The enormous discrepancy between male and female smokers can be chalked up to that, on one hand, smoking is perceived as a sign of masculinity for Chinese men, and old heroes like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping were often depicted cigarette in hand.

On the other hand, a strong prejudice against smoking women developed between the 1950’s and 1970’s, which has resulted in the modern idea that women in China don’t smoke. However, as anyone who socializes with Chinese women of the younger generation knows, the actual smoking habits of Chinese women runs counter to the popular notion that’s China Zhejiang | 25

LIFESTYLE a direct result from tobacco use.

This figure is expected to double by 2025 and triple by 2050 if the current trend continues. Since 1980, the prevalence of lung cancer has increased a mindboggling 465 percent, and now accounts for a quarter of cancer deaths in the country. According to one estimate, medical expenses incurred by tobacco use exceed RMB 14 billion annually. China’s Health Minister Chen Zhu recently aired concerns about the effect smoking has on the population, warning that the impact it has on smokers’ health has a significant negative effect on the economic growth of the country.

If the health of the population declines, it will inevitably affect the society and economy at large; it both undermines the strength of the work force and - as the government expands health care to the overall population and consequently ends up having to pay the bill - becomes a great financial burden for the state.

Knowledge about the health risks that come with smoking is not widely prevalent. Only about one in four adult Chinese believe that exposure to tobacco smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer. One step towards reduced tobacco consumption in China is educating the general population about the harm smoking causes. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in China, the most difficult group of people to educate about the effects of tobacco use is the rural population, who in general receive less education and health care. However, the most important people to reach are those in a position to bring about any changes, and those acting as role models for the average citizen; in other words local officials and doctors. Of the latter, about 60 percent are estimated to smoke regularly.

Profit VS. Health China ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in 2005, but last year admitted that they had only managed to fulfil about 37 percent of their commitments.

Since signing up to the FCTC, the government, media, research institutions and the public have acknowledged the need for tobacco control and the Ministry of Health publishes annual tobacco control reports. Campaigns to increase tobacco tax and put a warning on packaging have been made. However, with such high stakes and conflicting interests, the attempts to implement tobacco control are not easily carried out.

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The implementation of curbs on tobacco use are led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which chairs an eightmember body. One of those bodies is the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration. The administration is, among other things, responsible for policy making and enforcing regulations in terms of tobacco control. In other words, the same organ that runs China’s tobacco industry is also heavily involved in the work to curb smoking.

The development of smoking bans and education about the health risks that come with smoking are faced with some serious difficulties. The tobacco industry’s high-level, influential patronage and the sheer profit made from it, dampen the motivation to bring about any serious changes in the population’s smoking habits. So far, the profits this industry brings about annually have outweighed the health risks involved with smoking.

By the Numbers As official information is released every couple of years, these numbers are from 2010 and should therefore be read only as estimations of the current climate.

• About 350 million Chinese smoke, they make up one third of the world’s smoking population.

• The China National Tobacco Corporation’s annual sales amounts to over RMB 770 billion.

• Tobacco is the biggest single source of tax revenue for the government, with amounts exceeding RMB 473 million.

• Medical expenses incurred by tobacco use exceed RMB 14 billion every year.

• Only every fourth Chinese adult believes that exposure to tobacco smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer.

• Almost 60 percent of all adult Chinese males smoke.

• Around 60 percent of all male Chinese doctors smoke.

• Each year, an estimated 1 million people die in China, as a direct consequence of tobacco use.

Government Initiatives However, in an attempt to curb the ever rising number of smokers, and the subsequent rising health problems, the government issued several anti-smoking laws in 2011. A ban against smoking in indoor public places was issued, something that is often overlooked by owners of many bars and restaurants. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health put forth guidelines to improve tobacco control in schools, stating that all indoor and outdoor areas of kindergartens, and primary and secondary schools should be smoke free.

Another measure came from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, when they prohibited tobacco brands or indirect tobacco advertisements on TV. In accordance with the WHO FCTC, warning labels are also put on packages, stating that “smoking harms your health”, or “quitting smoking early helps reduce the risks of smoking”.

China faces a great challenge in the future, having to find a way to safeguard the population’s health, while at the same time avoid crippling an industry so lucrative that its positive effects on the national economy cannot be denied. However, as China moves towards an increasingly strong economy, finding a longterm, sustainable way to curb the population’s smoking habits without suffering the monetary losses from a declining tobacco industry has never been more important.

Female Smokers often hide their habit The Author used a variety of sources when researching this article. Notably; The World Health Organization, China Tobacco, Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, Bloomberg and Xinhua News Agency.