It used to be natural for a customer to light a cigarette after dining in a candle-lit restaurant in Beijing, the spiraling smoke evidence of an indulgence for many satisfied diners. But soon there will be fewer options for customers expecting a combined enjoyment of food and nicotine, because smoking will be gradually banned in local medium-sized and large restaurants.

On November 8, the popular Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant in Liulitun area, Chaoyang District, became the first notable non-smoking restaurant in compliance with the municipal government's anti-tobacco campaign that began last April. The restaurant has not only banned smoking but also stopped selling cigarettes to customers. Patronage at the Sichuan food chain restaurant declined about 10 percent during the smoke-free trial period in October, with revenues dropping thousands of yuan per day.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) issued a draft agenda for the non-smoking campaign last year. Based on the agenda, smoking is not only banned in the Olympic Village, but also in many hotels, restaurants, bars, cafés, clubs and scenic spots in the capital as well as the co-host cities including Tianjin, Shanghai and Shenyang.

In 2004, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pledged a non-smoking Olympic games when convening with Lee Jong-Wook, the late World Health Organization Director-General. The anti-tobacco concept initiated from Barcelona's Olympiad in Spain in 1992.

Yet the anti-smoking program has not been easy to implement in a country home to nearly one third of the world's smokers. According to Cui Xiaobo, a professor from the School of Health Administration and Education of Capital Medical University, it is proper to ban smoking in public for health concerns, but the program will be difficult to maintain and translate into law. "Government revenues from taxes will probably slump if smoking in public is legally banned," said Cui.

Taxes from the tobacco industry total about 250 billion yuan (US$33.8 billion) each year. Approximately 40 million people in the country have been involved in the business, ranging from planting to trading. However, a current survey conducted by Cui shows that people are in favor of a non-smoking environment even if it causes economic losses. More than 80 percent of Beijing residents out of 4,221 surveyed support the creation of a non-smoking Olympiad.

At the same time, the campaign organizers hope the healthy program will go beyond the half-month-long sporting event. "A non-smoking Olympic Games will surely become an inspiration for people to shape healthy habits," said Zhen Xiaozhen, Director of the Health Division under BOCOG.

(China.org.cn by Wu Jin, December 3, 2007)