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Chinese Smokers to Join International Quit-Smoking Contest
A 33-year-old Chinese chain smoker may get 10,000 U.S. dollars if he wins an international contest for smokers trying to kick the habit.
Jia Zhenyu, a resident of north China's port city of Tianjin, won a lottery on May 31 to qualify for the 2000 International Quit and Win Contest.
China's health authority hopes the campaign, involving some 31, 000 tobacco users throughout the country, can prompt more smokers to stop smoking, even though a national survey has revealed that only 17 percent of some 320 million smokers are serious about quitting.
"What smokers who determine to quit the habit mostly need is strong motives and support," Wang Zhao, an official with the Ministry of Health, said at the lotto drawing, at which the annual World No-tobacco Day was also marked.
Jia, a chain smoker for nine years, has abstained from cigarettes for the past month, as the contest rules stipulate. It is the third time China, with the world's biggest population of smokers, has taken part in the international contest. It is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) with aims to encourage more smokers to quit.
One million smokers in 83 countries have entered the contest; winners will be announced in August in Germany by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, director-general of the WHO. A Tianjin participant won the 5,000 U.S. dollar prize in the 1996 contest.
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