Stimulating the economy ..... Chinese Style!

Authorities in the Hubei province in central China have ordered local government officials to smoke more cigarettes ... specifically those made in the same province.  Officials not meeting their 'puff quotas' or those who smoke rival brands will be fined.  In total, officials have been ordered to puff their way through 230,000 packs of Hubei-branded cigarettes.

Even local schools have been issued with a smoking quota for teachers, while one village was ordered to purchase 400 cartons of cigarettes a year for its officials, according to the local government's website.
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Local authorities in Gong'an county are taking the cigarette quota seriously and have established a "special taskforce" to enforce it.
According to a local newspaper account, a teacher from a village middle school said officials burst unannounced into the school at around 3pm one afternoon and started sifting through the ashtray and bins in the staff-room.
Three "non-compliant" cigarette butts were discovered by the "cigarette marketing consolidate team" which informed the teacher he had violated the related civil servants "cigarette usage rule" After some negotiation the school was spared a fine, but subjected to "public criticism" for "undisciplined practices".

From the Telegraph.

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