Beijing's smoking ban is as strict as those of New York City and Tokyo, but the effects of the enforcement are yet to be seen. Photo: Li Hao/GT

 

Glancing around to ensure nobody was watching, Neil Larocque, 37, sneaked into the stairwell of a building in New York city from the conference hall he was in for a seminar. He took out a cigarette and a lighter and again looked around cautiously to make sure he was not being followed by anyone, and then he lit it up and breathed out the first smoke of the day.

Larocque was in a non-smoking building, and the conference hall was on a really high floor. The seminar was still in session, so Larocque could not go outside to smoke. It nearly killed him when his cravings were out of control.

With every puff, Larocque was tense. When he finished his cigarette, he quickly left the stairwell and uttered a sigh of relief.

"I just snuck one in quickly, worried that I would get caught, but relieved that I was able to have a quick smoke," said Larocque, adding that if he got caught smoking in New York's non-smoking area, it would be very embarrassing and costly.

This may have been one of Larocque's most thrilling experiences as a heavy smoker five years ago, but later he lost the excitement of sneakily struggling for a puff when he moved to Beijing in 2013, where smokers are everywhere.

"I have not been as nervous because everyone seems to smoke in Beijing, and there has always been someone else smoking around me at every building, club, restaurant, or bar," Larocque said.

China has the most smokers in the world, and the situation is worse in large cities like Beijing. According to the Beijing Patriotic Health Campaign Committee which is engaged in improving health, sanitation and hygiene in the city, as of May 2015, there were about 4.19 million smokers in Beijing, while the number of people exposed to secondhand smoke is more than 10 million. As a result, the city is trying to change and put in place the "strictest" smoking ban yet on June 1.

The ban means that people can not smoke in indoor public places, including restaurants, office buildings and vehicles. People are also banned from smoking in highly populated areas, especially those with children, including near schools, hospitals, sports venues, and cultural relic protection sites. Individual violators will be fined up to 200 yuan ($32), and venue owners who allow smoking in their venue or fail to put up non-smoking signs will face a maximum penalty of 10,000 yuan.

But those like Larocque have been questioning the enforcement efforts and are comparing the ban with those issued in many other cities in the world. Just how far will Beijing go to create an ideal non-smoking environment?

Big no-smoking signs are displayed on the Bird's Nest after the ban was issued. Photo: Li Hao/GT

 

Struggling to find a smoking spot

In another international metropolis, Tokyo, where the smoking ban policy is also strict, some smokers are having a hard time.

Kouu Ikou, a 25-year-old electrical engineer working in the downtown area of Tokyo who usually flies to Beijing for business trips, told Metropolitan that he can find almost no place to smoke around his workplace, a high-rise building in Chiyoda Ward in Tokyo, a central area in the Japanese capital.

According to Ikou, the smoking ban is the strictest in Tokyo's downtown area, and several smoking areas around his office building are now no-smoking zones.

"For a long time there was a smoking room on the first floor of our office building. Then the room was gone about two years ago, and an area outside the office turned into a designated smoking space," Ikou said. "That was already rather harsh for us smokers, but now we can't smoke there either."

Ikou recalled one time when he and his colleague Yamada went outside to smoke on a rainy and windy day. The two big men huddled under a small pink umbrella borrowed from a female colleague and rushed through the rain to the smoking area, which was right in the middle of a small garden without any shelter from the weather.

"When we got there, we were both half wet, but we held on and lit up a cigarette in our shaking hands and crouched down, face-to-face to protect the cigarettes from being put out by the rain," Ikou said. "But since the umbrella was so small, the secondhand smoke irritated our eyes and made us cough. When we returned to our office looking like two drowned rats, we were made fun of for a long time."

Since then, Ikou and his colleague Yamada both smoked less.

Larocque's struggle to find designated smoking areas when out and about in New York also forced him to stall his cravings. "Usually when I could not bear it, I just went into an alley and smoked," said Larocque.

Will the policy stick?

"I noticed the ban has been issued in Beijing, but it hasn't changed much," Larocque said. "Mostly, they have just taken away the ashtrays, which means more garbage and cigarettes on the street."

Larocque said he has not seen any law enforcement showing up to stop smoking, nor any strangers stopping others, adding that he himself would not say anything if he saw someone breaking the no-smoking rules.

"I'm a foreigner, so I don't want any trouble or a reason for people to argue with me," said Larocque. "But if I am back home [in Toronto, Canada] I would politely tell someone for sure because most people are understanding."

Yegor Shyshov, a 26-year-old Ukrainian who lives in Beijing, told Metropolitan he likes the policy, but does not know whether the policy will be followed and doubts the execution.

"There is a lot of pollution in our city, and when it is multiplied by people smoking around you, the environment is made worse," Shyshov said. "If it is something we can prevent, then why not?"

Shyshov said he thinks banning smoking and doing good for public health should be equally necessary for every country, and it may not be related to a city's economic development level.

"I went to Mauritius a few years ago to shoot a travel show, and they were about to ban smoking in any place that is covered with a roof, even it is outdoors," Shyshov said. "I did not know much about the details of the policy there, but the smoking ban was quite strict. You can not smoke in cafeterias, dining rooms, or any place with a roof, and the policy is almost the same as Beijing."

A better smoking ban

Larocque said he thinks one of the main aspects getting in the way of enforcing the ban is the price of cigarettes.

"[Smoking in Beijing is] the least expensive of the places that I have been to," Larocque said. "In Toronto, one pack averagely costs $16 for a pack of 20 cigarettes, and in Beijing a pack of Zhongnanhai (8 mg) - my favorite, only costs 6 yuan ($0.97) per pack."

In Tokyo, Ikou usually buys Mild Seven for 450 yen ($3.60) per pack, and in Beijing he also likes to smoke Zhongnanhai.

Ikou said he also noticed that in Beijing cigarettes are usually beautifully packaged, while this is not the case in Japan and many other countries in the world.

Larocque said he has tried to quit smoking "hundreds of times," but failed. As a result, he said he welcomes the ban in Beijing because he thinks it is a step in the right direction to help people quit.

"I smoke when I am bored, like when waiting for a bus or a taxi for example," Larocque said. "[Banning smoking in those places] eliminates the opportunities for people to smoke, helping reduce the opportunity for people to feed their habit."

Cui Xiaobo, a Capital Medical University professor and draftsman for regulations banning smoking in public and indoor areas in Beijing, told Metropolitan that since June 1, the smoking ban hotline has accepted more than 800 calls from people reporting illegal smoking, but the effect of the new policy is still under assessment.

Cui said local authorities are planning a competition for people to quit smoking in Beijing. They are also organizing an increased number of professional consultation services for those who want to kick the habit.

Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said she thought the future of the policy was bright.

"If the government can stay focused on tobacco control and maintain current enforcement efforts on banning smoking in Beijing, I think the policy will be increasingly effective in the future."