Buying ‘Double Happiness’ Reveals China’s Tobacco Battle

As Gao Jie browses a Beijing tobacco store for Lunar New Year gifts, she sees little to deter her except possibly the price.

The 23-year-old office worker pays 240 yuan ($39) -- more than a day’s average wage in the Chinese capital -- for a carton of locally made Shuangxi (or “Double Happiness”) cigarettes. The package is wrapped in shiny red paper with gold writing and bears no graphic reminders that tobacco use is the biggest killer in China. Only a note in plain type at the bottom of the pack warns that “smoking causes harm to health.”