Smoking Culture in China

張媛媛

中央民族大學外國語學院

Smoking Culture in China

張媛媛

中央民族大學外國語學院

Abtract：Smoking culture is deeply rooted in daily routine of Chinese people.The most significant one is that Chinese people have the tendency to send the cigarette as a gift.Only if scientists coordinate with the Chinese government to raise taxes on cigarette， limit the use of smoking scenes，advocate the use of electronic cigarette and educate the public will the deeply imbedded smoking culture in China change！

Chinese culture， tradition， change

In Chinese culture， presenting cigarette as a gift is regarded as a common phenomenon，because smoking culture is deeply ingrained in China， especially in rural areas， and they consider different brands of cigarettes symbolize their social status.When there is an important festival， Chinese people will offer packaged cigarettes as presents. In remote village， particularly in Chinese New Year Festival， the adults purchase famous tobaccos and wines to manifest their wealth and respect towards their parents. Althoughsomepeopleclaimthat“Chinesetraditionofg iftingandofferingcigarettesisrootedinaculturalexpressionofcourtesyandrespe ct”（Chu，JiangandGlantz.4），manifestingtheirsocialstatusandwealth，theirar gumentismisleading.Itismisleadingbecausethistypeofsmokingcultureevok esworseatmosphereinsociety.

Tobacco plays an essential role in business. When businessman greets each other， they choose the tobacco to break up the iceberg. In this way，they create the intimacy between them， because they take advantage of the cigarette to build their friendship. Since the businessman celebrates the cooperation in restaurant， they enjoy the smoking and drinking atmosphere because the cigarette brings about the sense of ease and relaxation.

Because smoking evokes worse society atmosphere， finding out the solution to cease smoking is essential. If the scientist provides the method to remove those terrible customs， they will change the current smoking culture in China. Since Chinese people begin smoking at an early age， the scientists are supposed to start with the adolescent smoking issues.A survey revealed that “family， parental， behavioral， and psychosocial factors that are important predictors of cigarette smoking among adolescents in China” （Li，Mao， Stanton et al.316）. As for teenagers， they smoke because they pretend to be mature and they are easily influence by their parents， friends and mass media. In China， the movies and TV series present some smoking scenes that misguide teenagers to imitate， because they believe smoking adds charm to them. This type of wrong notion should be taken out. The scientists， in coordination with the government， should make joint effort to prevent people from smoking. If the government enforces the mass media to remove the smoking scenes from the screen， the number of teenager smokers will reduce. The society expects the mass media to establish favorable environment for people， because people are unconsciously influenced by the actor.

Nowadays， the scientists advanced a practical way to replace the traditional tobacco， called electronic cigarette.But some tobacco researchers argue that “Many long-term studies， appropriate controls and compliance with the relevant regulations of electronic cigarettes are needed before the global medical community agrees that the vaping is safe” （249）. In electronic cigarette， the substitution of nicotine is “vaping”， but the security of this medicine need to be verified by numerous experiments， because it is related to the health of people. If it is safe， people will gain another method to quit smoking.

In terms of gifting cigarettes culture， the scientists will invent horrible pictures that are consisted of multi-organ diseases and deaths caused by tobacco on both the cigarette cases and the cigarette papers.

As for the businessman， the government will enact laws that limit them to smoke in public place， if they break the laws， they will be punishedrevoke their business licenses and fine 10 per cent of their property. The scholars and tobacco researchers will make persuasion in all over the country aim to warn people the hazards of smoking and pursued them to stay away from the cigarette.

In conclusion， although gifting cigarettes is deeply rooted in Chinese culture， and businessman greets each other by cigarettes， smoking creates worse society atmosphere. If scientist provides method to prevent people from smoking， in coordinate with the government enforcement of laws and policies， enhancing the tobacco taxes and enforcing the mass media to remove the smoking scenes from the screen， Chinese smoking culture will be changed！

Works cited：

［1］Chu， Alexandria， Jiang Nan， and Stanton A Glantz. “Transnational Tobacco Industry Promotion of the Cigarette Gifting Custom in China.”Tobacco Control 20.4 （2011）： 1-8. ProQuest. Web. 09 June 2016.

［2］Li， Xiaoming， Mao Rong， Bonita Stanton， et al. “Parental， Behavioral， and Psychological Factors Associated with Cigarette Smoking among Secondary School Students in Nanjing， China. ”Journal of Child and Family Studies 19.3 （2010）： 308-317.ProQuest. Web.04 June 2016.

張媛媛（1992年10月18日）女，回族，新疆烏魯木齊人，中央民族大學外國語學院，2013級本科生，英語語言文學專業