China to Ban Smoking for Duration of Olympics

It is going to come as a shock to tens of millions of lungs, but the Chinese government is planning a tobacco-free Olympics when the world's heaviest smoking nation hosts the event in 2008.

Long used to breathing some of the most polluted air in the world, Beijingers will get some respite during the Games as a result of measures revealed yesterday that will ban smoking on public transport and indoor workplaces.

Coming after the earlier announcement of plans to restrict traffic and close building sites for the duration of the Olympics, the plan underlines the host's concerns that the city's foul environment could spoil the most important party the country has ever organised.

"Let a smokeless games provide healthy competition, a healthy environment and a healthy lifestyle," the health ministry said in a news release.

The ministry gave few details about how it aims to achieve this goal, apart from stating that facilities serving children would be the first to get a no-smoking ban. Whatever the restrictions, they are likely to be difficult to maintain beyond the fortnight of the games.

With 350 million smokers - more than a quarter of the world total - China is hooked on nicotine. Six in 10 men are regular smokers. About a million people die of smoking-related diseases every year and the government forecasts this could triple in the next 50 years.

"People lack a basic understanding of the risks of smoking," the health ministry said in a report to the World Health Organisation.

The Olympic organisers, however, have a big incentive to clean up the city's air - at least while the attention of the world is on Beijing. The government sees the 2008 Games as a coming-out party for a nation that has emerged from a century of humiliation and chaos to become one of the most powerful economies on the planet.

Preparations are in full swing. The municipal government has even launched a drive to clean up the manners of the population, including anti-spitting patrols, etiquette lessons for hotel staff and an English guidebook for taxi drivers and police.