Smoking inside will be banned in enclosed public spaces in China as of May 1 this year.
So that leaves at least 300 million people just five weeks to break the habit of a lifetime.
Given that China is the world’s largest producer of cigarettes and that one in three smokers worldwide are Chinese, this is a social undertaking of epic proportions.
Here at home federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has also recently committed to an anti-smoking campaign that aims to cut our national smoking rate by 10 per cent in six years - starting with our Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander population.
Why? Because 50 per cent of that population are smokers and one in five die from smoking related diseases every year.
So who will be more successful? You’d have to say Roxon.
Putting aside the obvious advantage of population size – Roxon’s strategy is all about specific community targets whereas China’s one-size-fits-all approach does not offer a long-term solution.
First, some background.
Just this week the Roxon Government announced a further commitment to their anti-smoking policy with a $4 million advertising campaign.
Described as “intentionally personal”, the advertisement features an Indigenous woman talking directly to camera about the friends and family she has lost to the effects of smoking.
While it’s far too early to call the results, the policy has targeted what’s at the heart of the decision to smoke – the individual.
The government is saying, “This is why you shouldn’t smoke and these are the ways we can help you.”
Contrast this with China, where they are simply saying “don’t smoke inside enclosed public places.”
To spur their non-smoking along, the Chinese government has forbidden vending machines, demanded the display of prominent no-smoking signs and designated outdoor smoking zones that do not affect pedestrian traffic.
Okay, but with Chinese cigarettes still cheaper than anywhere else in the world, will these pretty basic precautions be enough to secure long-term change?
With a population this large, it’s hard to be convinced.
There is no question that the health benefits will be immeasurable – 1.5 million Chinese die of smoking related causes ever year.
Increased life expectancy is another goal; the government aims to see a national jump from 73.5 years to 74.5 years in five years time.
But health experts within China, like Yang Gonghuan, the deputy director of Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, are already calling for more aggressive measures.
To start with, they’d like to see the ban immediately extended to bars and restaurants and effective strategies for actually enforcing it.
Back home, Tom Calma, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, said the program has been successful because it leaves the onus to quit on smokers themselves:
“Punitive-type messages are not going to work…people want something they can relate to,” he said on Monday.
But even that may not be enough.
The Republic of Ireland was the first country in the world to impose an indoor ban on their “national hobby” back in 2004.
Despite huge public outcry at the time of implementation, yesterday marked the eighth anniversary of their indoor ban.
Only problem is, it hasn’t worked. The rate of smoking in the Republic has steadily increased.
A 2009 study documented a five per cent rise in the population’s smoking habits over two years, especially among men, leaving exasperated experts calling for “higher prices of cigarettes” and better treatment of “tobacco-dependence”.
So what does that tell us? Well, mostly, what we already know. Quitting smoking is tough going and being banned from doing it inside “certain” public places is the “soft” approach.
It might make China’s shopping malls a more pleasant place to spend a few hours but millions of Chinese will still be puffing away on cigarettes in the carpark outside.
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