From persuasion to penalty: Pouring cold water on outdoor smoking

Ever since I settled down in the western suburbs of Shanghai about 10 years ago, one of my favorite ways of spicing up weekend life has been to buy fresh local vegetables at a town marketplace.

I often get up early in the morning to catch the first group of farmers who bring their freshly picked cabbage, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, lotus roots or green onions for sale on two rows of food stalls in a specially designated corner of the marketplace.

In this corner, reserved for local farmers only, you even know who come from which villages and what they usually grow in their own vegetable fields or rustic courtyards. Their freshly picked and naturally moist vegetables, in comparison to those previously stored ones which are later sprayed with water, often fill the air with a special kind of fragrance rare to find elsewhere.

But on a recent Sunday afternoon, I smelled something bad, like heavy cigarette smoke, as I approached the local food stalls. I looked around and found most stalls were empty, and only a middle-aged vendor was puffing at a cigarette behind a stall near an exit of the marketplace.

Ventilation was OK, as there were fewer people in the afternoon than in the morning, but his swirling smoke simply stuck on the sanitation mask I wore, even though I stood about 3 meters from him. I could see he had all the nice vegetables I wanted that day, but instead of advancing directly to his stall, I took a detour and went to the market's management office, with a conspicuous no-smoking notice posted on its glass door.

"Hi there, could you please persuade that vendor from smoking in the marketplace?" I said to a roomful of management staff. One of them put down a cup of hot tea and came out.

It was such a huge marketplace that the staff member seemed to be at a loss at first, unable to precisely locate the smoker I had mentioned. But when he finally "got" the smoker, he told him: "Someone has reported that you're smoking."

A cigarette butt still in hand, the vendor forced a smile, apparently feeling both astonished and ashamed. The management staffer said no more words and went away, leaving the smoker frozen in an awkward smile.

At that moment, I turned around and faced the smoker, saying with a smile: "I am that 'reporter.' I would have bought your vegetables had you not smoked by your food stall."

My words did not stir him to anger. Rather he immediately extinguished his cigarette by pressing the little burning end against the ground. In a relieved tone, he said: "Now you can buy my cabbage and scallions, or whatever you like!"

So I bought three bags full of vegetables – far more than I had originally planned. In our casual talk that ensued, I learned he hailed from neighboring Anhui Province and had been growing vegetables and raising fish in an adjacent village for 30 years. I had never met him in the marketplace before, as he usually came in the afternoon, while I normally went in the morning. But this time I felt a bit dizzy in the early morning, so I went to the market in the afternoon instead – a rare change indeed.

I've learned from my chance encounter with the smoking farmer-vendor that effective persuasion is necessary in case someone violates a smoking ban.

Mencius (372-289 BC) once said: "Laws alone cannot carry themselves into practice." Well said.

Had I not "reported" the smoker to the management staff, or had the management staff not responded to my "report," the no-smoking notice posted on the glass door would have become a laughing stock.

Another day, I went to a mini park near my suburban home and found, to my pleasant surprise, that a smoking ban sign and several "smoking area" notices had just been posted, either on lamp poles or on the glass window of a security guard post.

My newfound pleasure did not last long, though. As I walked around the "smoking area" notices that all pointed toward a single designated outdoor smoking area, I saw a sanitation worker smoking all the time as he pushed a small two-wheel cart here and there to collect and dispose of garbage scattered in the park. He simply didn't bother to smoke in the designated place.

Then I asked a security guard: "Can we smoke anywhere in the park?" I expected him to say "no," but to my surprise, he gave me a nod. Several days later, I went to the park again. People still smoked outside the designated outdoor smoking area.

At first I thought it was because of the different levels of regulations concerning indoor and outdoor smoking. Shanghai has banned indoor smoking since 2017, but such a sweeping ban has yet to apply to outdoor smoking. The city has so far established about 300 pilot designated outdoor smoking areas, mainly in commercial complexes, sports centers, parks, public transportation hubs, hotels and waterfront public spaces.

But more on-the-spot interviews have changed my mind. During a three-hour field trip inside and outside Shanghai Zoo last week, I did not see anyone smoking, even though visitors are allowed to smoke in less-crowded open spaces. Some of the zoo staff told me it might be because there are fewer visitors in winter, but they said even in peak seasons when tourists crowd the zoo, they would see to it that no one smokes in crowded corners.

I also interviewed at a number of hospitals and Metro stations, where security guards or other staff members assured me they would definitely dissuade anyone from smoking near the entrances.

A total ban, like the one for indoor smoking, certainly has more deterrent power than setting up some designated smoking areas, like those outdoor ones. But ultimately, it depends on the conscience of everyone.

As I rambled in the zoo last week and saw all those lovely creatures, from ostriches to flamingoes, I thought to myself: How could I bring myself to smoke in their face? And I believe many, though not necessarily all, other tourists think likewise.

On December 11, nine government departments in Shanghai jointly issued a high-profile notice, calling for concerted efforts to further prevent outdoor smoking at eight major types of venues, including bus stops, school gates and the entrances and exits of metro stations. Measures to be taken range from deploying persuasion staff and volunteers and strengthening patrols.

As a local health promotion professional said, an effective prevention of smoking requires all hands to the pump.

Zhu Meijuan, a professional doctor in a community health center near my home, told me in a recent interview that she and her colleagues always do their best to educate the public about the health hazards of tobacco, but an effective control of outdoor smoking ultimately requires the multi-dimensional efforts of society.

Penalty works, so does persuasion.