I read it in China’s English mouthpiece, I read it on international news websites and even in Dutch Newspapers which quoted, probably verbatim, Xinhua, another great source of information.
What did I read. Something totally remarkable and irrelevant.
China, the world’s biggest market for cigarettes, ratified an international treaty aimed curbing tobacco-related deaths, announcing immediately afterwards a ban on tobacco vending machines
As long as I live in China I have never, really never encountered a cigarette vending machine. Not in Kunming, not in Beijing, not in Xian, not in Lijiang, not in.. any place I visited or lived and believe me, I used to smoke more than the average Chinese man.
So where do you buy your cigarettes then if there aren’t any vending machines around the corner, you may ask.
Small shops like the flowerist, the phonecard salesman, the 24-hrs shop, supermarkets big and small, “real” cigarette shops that are plastered on every corner, actually any shop that sells anything definitely also sells cigarettes.
It’s so easy to get cigarettes I actually quit.
sources:
China Daily
China ratifies WHO anti-tobacco treaty
Forbes
China ratifies anti-tobacco treaty, to ban tobacco vending machines
It’s part of the Chinese population control program, selling tobacco. A ban on vending machines isn’t really expected to work. trust me.
Comment by Steve Mulligan — September 29, 2005 @ 10:34 pm