Zhang Yang

nicolezyyy@163.com

TWO people were caught smoking in two Luohu restaurants that were raided by law enforcers Monday night during spot checks joined by reporters and volunteers from the Shenzhen Tobacco Control Association. Each of the smokers was fined 50 yuan (US$7.25) for violating the smoking ban.

The first was caught smoking while having dinner with his friends in a Hakka restaurant, although there was a “No Smoking” sign on the wall beside their dining table. The man said that he didn’t know about the smoking ban because he had just arrived in Shenzhen.

The second smoker was found in another restaurant on Fenghuang Road. He looked outraged and embarrassed upon being caught smoking by the reporters’ cameras, but he was submissive when the law enforcers asked him to pay the 50-yuan penalty.

The law enforcers also found some cigarette butts littered below a dining table in a nearby dumpling restaurant, but the diners sitting near the table denied that they had smoked cigarettes. They yelled at the reporters and law enforcers when they were admonished for smoking indoors.

Gao Wenhui, head of the Shenzhen Tobacco Control Association, gave a verbal warning to the restaurant’s owner and asked him to fulfill his obligation by putting “No Smoking” signs up in the restaurant and dissuading customers from smoking indoors.

Shenzhen’s smoking ban, said to be the harshest of its kind in China, stipulates fines between 50 and 500 yuan for individual violators and up to 30,000 yuan for operators of nonsmoking venues that fail to comply with the ban, which was extended to all indoor areas Jan. 1 this year.

The anti-smoking raid Monday marked the beginning of a citywide operation launched by the authorities to conduct spot checks at restaurants and eateries in 10 districts until May 31 and punish smoking-ban violators.

Gao said that it was still common to see customers smoking in small eateries in Shenzhen, making it difficult for the smoking ban to be fully implemented.

“We hope more people will participate in the anti-smoking campaign,” he said, adding that residents are encouraged to take photos of smoking-ban violators and upload the photos to the association’s WeChat account (ID: szkyws) as a way to tip off law enforcers.