Smoking/Pollution, i.e. "Reasons Why My Eyes Water and my Lungs are Turning Black"

I'm currently sitting in a cafe, and there are 5 people smoking in a 10-foot radius. One of them has gone through at least 4 cigarettes in the 2 hours that I've been here.

Needless to say, smoking-culture is very predominant in China. Curious about the topic, I looked up the following BBC article. Here are their primary statistics: 

"Nearly three-quarters of all Chinese men are smokers." 

"Two landmark studies involving 1.25m Chinese people show that China has the largest number of smoking-related deaths in the world." 

"Because of a sharp increase in cigarette sales in the last 30 years, around 2,000 people a day are currently dying of smoking in China." 

"By 2050, the researchers expect this number could rise to 8,000 a day - some three million people a year." 

"Surveys showed two-thirds of Chinese people think smoking does little or no harm, 60% think it does not cause lung cancer and 96% do not know that it causes heart disease."

Shocking, no? A fellow fulbrighter is actually researching this topic, more specifically "how adults and adolescents use cigarettes as a form of social currency to facilitate establishment of personal and professional relationships, as well as actions that are being taken to curtail the extensive use of tobacco products." I'll be interested to hear the results of his project.

As a non-smoker and doctor's daughter, I find this cultural trend appalling. Considering how severe the pollution is here, its incredible that people will deliberately harm their lungs. Is it not bad enough that jogging outside is like smoking a pack of cigarettes?

Well lungs, we've had a good run. At least my Chinese is pretty good? I'm not sure if it's necessarily a fair exchange, but that's the best rationalization I've got.

Painters taking a smoke-break on the roof

Traditional Chinese Shadow-puppet smoking
(more on this topic later)