Bobbing for Cigarettes

Seen recently in Neijiang, a nearby city in Sichuan where Ian, my pal from training, teaches:


Yes, instead of pastel stuffed animals, those are packs of cigarettes. Try your luck for a kuai!

Smoking here is much more prevalent than in the US, but it is a predominantly male habit. Current estimates are that some 350 million people smoke in China, which is 1/3 of all smokers in the world. More than 60% of Chinese men smoke, and the Internet tells me that at least 1 in 4 Chinese men will die from cigarette-related disease. It is an interesting phenomenon to observe for the differences from the way Westerners use cigarettes. It becomes especially interesting at banquets I attend. Because so few Chinese women of the older generation smoke, if I were a Chinese woman at a banquet, I would never be offered a cigarette, nor would I be asked whether or not I minded if the men smoked (virtually nowhere in China is smoke-free--it makes bus travel unpleasant at times). But because I am a Westerner, and an American, they all hesitate and I can practically see them think, "hmm...she is a woman, but she's a Western woman." So I frequently get the tentative offer--a raised eyebrow and a soft-pack of cigarettes with one pulled halfway out, thrust in my direction. I always decline, and try not to look too disapproving.

Of course, like practically everything else here, the male dominance of smoking is changing. With continuing Western media influence that shows equal-opportunity tobacco usage, I see more young women puffing on cigarettes. I've become so acculturated to China at this point that it always mildly shocks me to see a young woman light up; I inevitably think, "Chinese women don't smoke!" But increasingly, they do.