STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're in China for a presidential summit. But we're not missing the chance to look around China itself. And we found a story that says something about China's health. This is a hard smoking nation. You see men with cigarettes everywhere. This spring, a woman confronted a man smoking at a bus stop in the city of Shenzhen. Police intervened. And the incident spread on social media. The woman in that incident did not talk with us. But we learned that other women in Shenzhen regularly confront smokers in crowded areas, and we asked two of them to meet us at Starbucks.
LULO WANG: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: Hi. Nice to meet you.
L WANG: I saw your picture.
INSKEEP: Hey, you saw my picture. That's great. OK, that's good.
(LAUGHTER)
L WANG: We had to ensure that you are real NPR at first.
INSKEEP: Lulo Wang (ph) describes herself as an extrovert and her friend, Hilda Wang (ph), as an introvert.
You're more of a silent person.
HILDA WANG: Yeah.
INSKEEP: But it seems to me you were not silent...
L WANG: Oh. Oh, wow, that's...
H WANG: (Laughter) OK, that's great.
INSKEEP: ...On social media.
Hilda has been scolding smokers and posting video of the encounters. People in China smoke far more than in the U.S. One study finds close to half of Chinese men are smokers. Very few women are. And it may not be coincidence that the people complaining are women.
H WANG: I have some video on my account I can show you.
INSKEEP: Hilda played a widely shared clip of herself lecturing a man who has a cigarette in hand.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Chinese).
INSKEEP: He says she has no right to put him on video. She tells the man he's an embarrassment, and he walks away.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
H WANG: (Speaking Chinese).
INSKEEP: Hilda, the introvert, says she gets so upset about smoking, her personality has changed. Her friend Lulo says she has asked this question of men.
L WANG: Is your cigarette a good thing for you to suck?
H WANG: (Laughter).
INSKEEP: The recent smoking incident that involved Shenzhen police was even more dramatic. A woman confronted a smoker at a bus stop. He didn't put it out. She poured juice on his cigarette, he threw the empty cup at her, police took both into custody. In social media posts later taken down, the woman claimed the police strip searched her. The state-owned China Daily said a female officer gave her, quote, a "safety check" in accordance with regulations. China Daily adds the man was breaking Shenzhen's rules for bus stops. He was fined. And the issue was resolved. The two Shenzhen women we met say the larger issue is not resolved.
L WANG: I hate bros. Sorry (laughter).
INSKEEP: What is a bro to you?
L WANG: Lower IQ and less civilized. Don't respect others.
INSKEEP: Is that all men or just some of them?
L WANG: Yes. I'm sorry, but yes.
INSKEEP: It's all.
Lulo suggested she didn't mean this literally, saying humor is the art of being offensive. But it was clear we needed a response from men, so we approached every smoker we found up and down the block.
OK. Thank you.
TAN TIA-SHAN: Sit down, sit down.
INSKEEP: Sit down, said Tan Tia-shan, who was sitting on a bench, where he kept offering me a cigarette.
Thanks for offering, but no. I don't smoke.
He works in a kitchen when he's not smoking.
TAN: (Through interpreter) I love smoking.
INSKEEP: He's been doing it since his time as an army pilot 40 years ago.
Have you ever had any health effects?
TAN: (Through interpreter) It's refreshing.
INSKEEP: He adds that he has a cough, but he's fine. He says men traditionally had the pleasure of smoking because men were in charge. But when I told him about the women confronting men on social media, he surprised me.
TAN: (Through interpreter) It's good. Not smoking is good for your health.
INSKEEP: Of the five male smokers on that block who agreed to talk with us, not one seemed upset by the activists. Though some men have seemed upset when scolded on video, men on this block said they wouldn't mind a lecture if it helped them get over their addiction.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE CACTUS CHANNEL'S "BUDOKAN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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