Zhang Yang, Dong Haowu

nicolezyyy@163.com

SHENZHEN’S smoking ban, which took effect March 1, 2014 and is said to be the harshest of its kind in China, is gradually being accepted and understood by residents.

A security guard in a Futian office building, surnamed Liu, who has been smoking for five years, supports the smoking ban. “If someone is smoking in a nonsmoking place and the smoke is seriously disturbing other people, I will stop the person whether he is a stranger or not,” Liu said.

Xie, who is in charge of fire control in the office building, knows the smoking ban very well. He has been smoking for about three years, but he is a total supporter of the smoking ban.

He said that if his friends are smoking in a nonsmoking place, he will definitely stop them, but he might not do the same if that person is a stranger, because he doesn’t want to poke his nose in other people’s business.

Wu, a heavy smoker who has been smoking for more than a decade, said that both he and his friends are in favor of the smoking ban. Similar to Xie, Wu would discourage a friend from smoking in a nonsmoking place, but he would hesitate to do the same to a stranger because he doesn’t want to cause any trouble.

“Compared with a few years ago, the smoking ban is now more widely accepted by Shenzhen residents,” said Zhuang Runsen, deputy head of the Shenzhen Tobacco Control Association. He said that effective implementation of the smoking ban requires a joint effort from the government, the public and operators of nonsmoking venues.

The smoking ban stipulates fines between 50 yuan (US$7.41) 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.

According to Zhuang, the smoking ban still needs to be amended, because some outdoor public places with high foot traffic, such as bus stations, are not covered by the ban. “Besides, venue operators will only be given a verbal warning the first time they violate the smoking ban, which somewhat weakens the ban’s deterrent power,” he said.

Wang Ying, a director of the association, said over 10,000 residents have joined the association’s volunteer team to popularize the smoking ban by handing out leaflets at nonsmoking venues and organizing over 100 promotional activities across the city each year.

“Some venue operators even contacted us proactively and demanded that we send volunteers to their places to educate their customers about the smoking ban,” Wang said.