Beijingkids has been an essential family resource for Beijing international families since 2006. And just as kids grow up in the blink of an eye, Beijing has grown and changed almost beyond recognition in that time. In Throwback Thursday we jump in the time machine, traveling through our 14 year-strong blog archives to dig out the most entertaining, fascinating, and thought-provoking stories for your reading pleasure. Ready? Let’s go…
If you had to guess, when would you say that the ban on smoking indoors was introduced in Beijing? 2000? 2008? Maybe even a bit later?
Actually, it was Jun 1, 2015, just five short years ago. As beijingkids reported at the time, the long-awaited ban made life just a little bit more difficult for Beijing’s then 4.2 million smokers. According to research conducted by the Beijing Municipal Health Commission in Dec 2019, that figure now stands at about 3.63 million, a significant reduction especially considering that Beijing’s overall population has grown from about 18.4 million to an estimated 20.4 million in the same time.
Predictably, the city’s bars, restaurants, and clubs were the most affected by the ban: back then, Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning conducted a survey (which might be filed under ‘We Could Have Told You That for Free’) that revealed that “90% of all respondents say they’ve encountered smoking in bars, while 66% say they’ve been exposed to it in restaurants.” Yet the feeling among the F&B industry leaders we interviewed back then was overwhelmingly positive, with Kenn Bermel, proprietor of The Local saying “I’m actually happy with the ban because it will make it easier for me to make the change to non-smoking.”
In a move that surely made a lot of Beijing families and parents happy, many outdoor areas were also made non-smoking in the 2015 ban, such as playgrounds, sports fields, areas with cultural relics (like the Forbidden City), designated waiting areas like lines for buses, temporary large-scale outdoor activity areas, and – praised be – outside maternity clinics and childrens’ hospitals.
The Chinese notice integrates the universally recognized and free No Smoking icon designed by AIGA, the American Institute of Graphic Arts
The 2015 ban wasn’t the first time that the city had tried to curb indoor smoking, but it finally stuck thanks to the introduction of serious fines for venues and individuals, and a clever marketing move: “the city’s official anti-smoking campaign has leveraged newfound sensitivity to air quality by pointing out that indoor smoking is far worse in terms of PM 2.5 than even the most hideous bad air day in the city.”
These days, the 禁止吸烟 jìnzhǐ xīyān ‘smoking is forbidden’ sign is an as ubiquitous part of life in China as the over-enthusiastic 到车型注意 dào chēxíng zhùyì screamed out by every tricycle and delivery vehicle executing a reverse move the country over.
You can read the original article in its entirety here.
Were you a smoker when the ban came in? Did it impact your smoking habits?
How to Post and Promote Your Event on beijingkids – For Free!
Images: François Dallay (via Unsplash), billow 926 (via Unsplash)
