More Smoke, Fewer Mirrors

Chinese Women and Cigarettes

By staff reporter ZHOU CHANG

    HE Li, 39, leads a busy life trying to juggle her business and personal life. This Sunday morning she has to meet with clients, and at noon rush her daughter back to the boarding school bus. She only finally gets a moment to indulge in a smoke when the school bus rolls away. “I struggle with terrible pressures in my work and family life,” she explains, “and cigarettes for me are the best way to ease those tensions.”

Alleviating Pressure Can Be a Drag

    As a member of the media, He Li sometimes works over 12 hours a day and has to attend frequent business lunches with her clients. “I hardly ever get a chance to spend a quiet weekend at home, not to mention cook a meal for my child.” She started by smoking a cigarette each day before getting down to work, then began taking regular smoke breaks. The number of breaks increased as she worked longer overtime. Each new pressure seems to increase her desire to light up, whether it’s worrying about her child’s education, or her parents’ health, not to mention her husband’s complaints that she is not taking good enough care of the family.

    He Li often gets lost in thought, reminiscing about the time just after she finished university 15 years ago. Life was simpler for her as a fresh college graduate. She did not have to worry about employment, since at that time most people could get a good job assigned to them by the government. People were satisfied with an average income. For fun they might go fishing or do some gardening in their spare time. “But how many of us can still afford to live such a laid back life today? Everybody is busy trying to make a living. You hardly ever see people just out for casual stroll anymore,” she says a bit bitterly.

    With life in the fast lane, females have inherited heavier burdens than their male counterparts. Some of them turn to smoking for relief. Currently in China, 3.9 percent of females smoke. In Shanghai, the smoking rate for women aged 20 to 39 has increased from less than 2 percent in 2002 to 7.2 percent in 2009. Considering the huge population of China, even 1 percent is a relatively large number.

Young women in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province show their support at an anti-smoking event in March, 2010.

Defiance of Male Chauvinism

    Scholars believe that the policy of opening and reform in China has provided females with wider choices in life. They are no longer constrained by conservative social judgment, and are free to live their modern lives, reflecting an awakening of female self-awareness.

    Some women take up smoking in defiance of male chauvinism – in the same way as women in Western countries pushed for the right to wear pants so many years ago. The social stigma however still sticks: “good women” are not supposed to smoke; it somehow disrupts the traditional image of womankind.