Tammy Bruce: Customers Abandon Smoke-Free Restaurant

Customers Abandon Smoke-Free Restaurant

Nothing ruins a cardboard bun with a warm, steamy side of melamine more than cigarette smoke in your face.

Beijing's first smoke-free restaurant chain faces going out of business after its customers deserted it in droves after the ban was enforced, state media reported on Friday.

The Chinese are the world's most enthusiastic smokers, with a growing market of more than 350 million, making it a magnet for cigarette companies and a focus of international health concerns..."We figure that if we're going to die, at least we're going to die honorably," the paper quoted Guo Xiaodong, deputy director of the restaurant chain, as saying.

Along with spitting, and not queuing, Olympic organizers fear Chinese people's tendency to smoke anywhere at any time could taint the country's image in foreign eyes.

Uh, Newsflash for China: Too late!!

Posted by Tammy · January 21, 2008 11:45 AM · Permalink
Tyrants

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Hey, at least in China the smokers won. Germany is experiencing bar rage after smoking bans were introduced in bars and restaurants across the country January 1st. I find it interesting that one reason the Germans refuse to succumb as passively as other Europeans is the recollection of the Nazi nationwide tobacco ban in 1941. The European and American health fascists are following in the footsteps of the Nazi quest for bodily purity while the Chinese Communists relent to market forces. Maybe we should be taking a closer look at ourselves on this one.

Posted by: pat_s at January 21, 2008 12:38 PM

I resonate to the comments about public spitting and queing. People from the far east do not comprehend the concept of lining up (the first thing we are taught in pre-school or kindergarden). I asked a Vietnamese man about this in the 1980's and he thinks they have the mindset that if they are not first in line they will miss out on whatever they are waiting for. Asian countries have pandemics of communicable disease and no one connects the spitting custom to the transmission of disease. Public spitting was an American custom at one time being mentioned in literature and old photographs of the time ("No Spitting Allowed" signs for example). Can I say eeuw! The Olympics will be hilarious.

Posted by: BA in LA at January 21, 2008 04:56 PM

Quote:
Public spitting was an American custom at one time being mentioned in literature and old photographs of the time ("No Spitting Allowed" signs for example). Can I say eeuw! The Olympics will be hilarious.

Watch a baseball game sometime. Spitting is still the national pastime of the National Pastime.

Posted by: Rich B at January 21, 2008 06:37 PM

Thanks Rich,
I never thought of the spitting in sports. Maybe the crotch scratching, spitting, and gross locker room behavior is a cultural memory of times past. We aren't too far removed from barbarism. Just check out the middle east.

Posted by: BA in LA at January 22, 2008 12:03 PM

The spitting issue came to America as a result of tobacco use. Men chewed tobacco, women "dipped" snuff. Dipping snuff is to place a pinch between the cheak and the gum. Snuff got it's name from the practice of sniffing dry powdered tobacco. The sniffing act was more like snorting coke. The tobacco was tapped out on the knuckle and drawn through nostril in one quick "sniff". The nicotine moves right through the soft tissue into the blood stream, providing a caffine like lift. Snuff and "chaw" both cause the mouth to flood itself with saliva, that if swallowed will make you sick,-- very sick. If you have ever smoked a cigar you will notice greatly increased salivation. Cigars made it to europe rather quickly, but snuff and chewing tobacco took longer to cross the pond. Chewing tobacco was never as popular in europe as it was in the U.S., but snuff was wildly popular among the gentry, both men and women used it. It was not uncommon to have three or four spitoons in a household. The "NO SPITTING" signs generally indicated that a spitoon was nearby. Businesses put the signs and spittoons out to keep their boardwalks clean.

Posted by: mrfixit at January 23, 2008 10:34 AM

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