Beijing, - One of the many challenges taken on by Beijing ahead of the Olympics has already been lost. The Chinese capital is resigned to not seeing the application of the smoking ban imposed in areas where the Games take place, or which will be visited by athletes and tourists. From 1 May, new norms come into force attempting to bring one of the cities with the highest percentage of smokers - a quarter of citizens over 15 years old are smokers - into line with the Convention for the control of cigarettes. Smoking will be banned in sports facilities, in parks, in schools and on public transport, but restaurants and hotels will be exempted from the ban and might reserve areas and rooms to those who simply cannot go without.
"Smoking is part of the life-style of the population" said Li Lingyan, deputy Chair of the community legislative office, "so in some places like Internet cafe’s and self-service bars we will not be able to root it out completely". Smoking cigarettes will not be allowed on archaeological sites, in gyms, in stadiums, in communal areas of government buildings or in university lecture halls.