Smokers' Haven

Tobacco is a major cash crop in Yunnan. The province ranks first nationally in the production of cigarettes and cured tobacco and pretty near the top in consumption. Non-smoking visitors can't help but notice the proliferation of smoking in Yunnan, for people smoke everywhere-while walking the streets, sitting in the parks or teashops, eating dinner, riding buses and standing around having a chat with a friend. The first thing men do when meeting someone they know, or being introduced to someone they don't , is offer a cigarette. Owners of small restaurants pass out cigarettes to their customers at the beginning or end of the meal, or both. Some people smoke while eating, or take cigarette breaks every twenty minutes during a leisurely dinner.

The Yunnanese see smoking as a true pleasure and the offering of a cigarette as a gesture of friendship, a gesture they are quick to make in any circumstance all over the province. Sometimes the desire to make a good impression plays a part, for Yunnan has a broad range of cigarette brands, from the relatively expensive to the very cheap. The most costly are over 40 yuan per packet, but these are not often sold. The leading quality brand is Hongtashan, which sells a few yuan higher than imported 555's. Yunyan and Ashima are less, about 6-10 yuan. Middle-quality brands like Honghe and Hongmei, popular in the rural areas, go for 13-6 yuan. The most popular cheap brand is Chuncheng, at around 2 yuan, while the unfiltered Xiangyun is only one yuan. At big parties, weddings, funerals, etc., the host will distribute the best cigarettes he can afford, preferably Hongtashan, for its status value.

In the rural and minority areas, instead of a cigarette, the host may offer a large, bamboo smoking pipe. Water is kept in the lower part of the tube, so that the smoker, when holding a cigarette over the pipe attached to the tube, or taking a puff on a pinch of blonde tobacco burning in the pipe, filters the smoke through the water before inhaling it into his lungs.

Smoking is also part of minority nationality lifestyles, some more than others. Hani funeral customs require the placing of a few objects, symbolic of the lifestyle of the deceased, on top of the grave after burial. Among the Aini branch of the Hani this means a smoking pipe, knife, etc. for men or a spindle, loom reed, etc. for women. But the Hani in Ailaoshan lay a smoking bong on the graves of both male and female. The first thing a Hani host does when receiving a male guest is empty the smoking bong, put fresh water inside, and hand it with a pinch of tobacco to the guest. After that the host makes tea, whereas in other societies the tea precedes the tobacco.

Ailaoshan Hani women generally don't smoke, but their ethnic cousins in Xishuangbanna and southwest Simao do, smoking sun-cured, hill-grown tobacco in bamboo pipes with medium-length stems. Yi women in Lijiang and Zhaotong Prefectures also smoke, but in pipes with brass bowls. The champion lady smokers, though, are the Wa, who use long-stemmed silver pipes with ornate designs, slightly curved at the bowl. When not using them they tuck the pipes into their belts or, in Menglian County, in the silver bands that hold their caps in place.