Officials in a county in central China have been told to smoke nearly a quarter million packs of locally made cigarettes annually to boost their economy or risk being fined.
The Gong'an county government in Hubei province has ordered its staff to puff their way through 230,000 packs of Hubei-produced cigarette brands a year, the Global Times said.
Departments that fail to meet their targets will be fined, according to the report.
China has recently been attempting to appear more like the West in tackling smoking, but it looks like they have their work cut out if their local officials' ... err ... innovative method of boosting industry is anything to go by.
More than half of all male doctors in China smoke, but the government is now trying harder to get them to kick the habit in order to set an example for others, state media reported recently.
Yeah, right. Good luck with that, I reckon you might need it.
