Frances Stillman
China
School of Medicine, MD program Tobacco claims 4.9 million lives per year. If present patterns continue, the number of deaths will increase to 10 million by the year 2020, 70 percent of which will occur in developing countries. One third of the world’s smokers live in one country: the People’s Republic of China. In 1996, a population-based survey revealed that approximately 63 percent of Chinese men and 4 percent of Chinese women smoke cigarettes. At 350 million, the number of Chinese smokers is greater than the population of the United States. One third of the world cigarette market and 99.9 percent of the Chinese market belongs to the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), a government owned and operated monopoly that generates significant revenue for the country. Nevertheless, the costs of tobacco use may outweigh the profits; healthcare expenditures directly related to tobacco costs the Chinese government between US$ 5 billion and US$ 6.5 billion annually. Second only to hypertension, tobacco use is the second-leading cause of death in Chinese adults that is entirely preventable. The Chinese government has recently joined global efforts to reduce tobacco use. In 2003, the government signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an international treaty that “aims to reduce global demand for tobacco products by encouraging countries such as China to adopt the sorts of anti-smoking measures now commonplace in developed countries.” In April 2007, Chinese officials signed a Letter of Agreement that will officially launch “Towards a Smoke-free China,” a joint initiative of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Institute for Global Tobacco Control, the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Peking Union Medical College, as part of the Bloomberg Global Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. The Chinese government has reiterated its commitment to controlling tobacco advertising and product labeling, creating smoke-free public places, increasing taxation of tobacco products, and taking steps to combat underage smoking and tobacco smuggling. One area that has not been examined is cinema. Advertising tobacco products on television is now banned, but there are no regulations concerning smoking in films. China’s youth, in particular, may benefit from such regulation. Several studies (in the United States and Europe) have shown that watching favorite actors smoke on screen persuades some young people to try smoking. This is partly due to the qualities assigned to screen smokers. In American films between 1969 and 1990, characters who smoke tended to be white, middle-class, successful, and attractive. A study of films from 2002 found that 6 percent of all characters, including 3 percent of children (1-12 years old) smoked, and showed that smokers were portrayed as “leaders from privileged elites (male, white, and mature).” The same study found that “99.6 percent of characters suffer no life-threatening consequences from smoking on screen,” making smokers “seem invincible.” Believing that smoking is harmless, coupled with the adolescent’s urge to assert his independence, is a dangerous combination. Smoking prevalence among Chinese youth is high and appears to be rising. Among 15- to 19-year-olds, an estimated 18 percent of boys and 0.28 percent of girls are active smokers. In a worldwide survey between 1999 and 2001, ~50 percent of Chinese youth are exposed to smoke from someone at home, over 50 percent think that smoking should be banned from public places, and ~80 percent believe that second-hand smoke is harmful. Yet up to 30 percent have tried cigarettes, ~15 percent currently smoke, and up to 33 percent think that smoking makes boys look more attractive (up to 21 percent for girls). I propose to study the extent of tobacco use, as well as the qualities assigned to smokers, in the Chinese film industry. I will compare the prevalence and effects of tobacco use in Chinese films over twenty years with the prevalence and effects of tobacco use in the Chinese population at the same time. There does not appear to be research in these areas as of April 2007. The findings of my study will show how often and in what manner tobacco use is portrayed in popular Chinese cinema, and will inform policy decisions regarding its regulation. | 
JHU advisor:
