Simplesmente CHOCANTE!

Good for them?
Last November, The Globe and Mail (Toronto) reported some exciting medical news from China: Smoking is great for your health! Cigarettes are an excellent way to prevent ulcers, reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease, relieve schizophrenia, boost your brain cells, speed up your thinking, improve your reactions and increase your working efficiency! (No word on erectile dysfunction, but you have to believe it helps there, too!) As for those depressing warnings about lung cancer, not to worry. You're more likely to get cancer from kitchen smoke than from smoking!
"This is the bizarre parallel universe of China's state-owned tobacco monopoly, the world's most successful cigarette-marketing agency," The Globe and Mail reported. "If you believe the Web site of the tobacco monopoly, cigarettes are a kind of miracle drug: solving your health problems, helping your lifestyle, strengthening the equality of women, and even eliminating loneliness and depression." Such preposterous thoughts are widely believed in China.

Tirado daqui:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06123/686910-294.stm

A Chinese county has rescinded a rule urging its government workers to smoke more in order to boost tax income.
The authorities in Gong'an county had told civil servants and teachers to smoke 230,000 packs of the locally-made Hubei brand each year.
Those who did not smoke enough or used brands from other provinces or overseas faced being fined or even fired.
But the government has now backtracked from the policy, after a report in a local newspaper generated criticism.
U-turn
A million people die from smoking-related diseases in China every year, but the local authorities were initially undeterred by the health risks.
"The regulation will boost the local economy via the cigarette tax," Chen Nianzu, a member of the cigarette market supervision team in Gong'an county, Hubei province, told the Global Times newspaper.
The paper said the measure was probably an attempt to shore up the Hubei brands against tough competition from cigarettes produced in neighbouring Hunan province.
On Tuesday, the local government's website published a statement saying "We decided to remove this edict", but declined to elaborate further.
Smoking is deep-rooted in Chinese culture - where more than half of all male doctors smoke - and there is still a general lack of awareness about the impact on health.
But the authorities have recently started encouraging smokers to kick the habit - even imposing a ban on smoking in public buildings in the capital, Beijing, in the run up to the 2008 Olympic games.

tirado daqui :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8033101.stm