For a snapshot of the Chinese tobacco industry, casual observers need go no further than the massive advertisements blanketing some of the main highways in Shanghai, which is generally considered to be the most go-ahead city in the People's Republic of China . "Ai Wo Zonghua" runs the clever slogan, which literally means 'Love my Zonghua brand cigarettes', but which may be translated, too, as 'Love my China'. And China really does love its cigarettes. Each year, Chinese smokers consume-1.7tn of them, 30% of the world's annual consumption. China produces more than-2m tonnes of leaf tobacco a year, almost half of the world's production, and four times as much as is produced by India, the next biggest producer. Cigarette sales account for 10% of the Chinese government's tax revenues, about US$ 12bn during 2001. And last year, total profits from China's key state tobacco enterprises exceeded US$30bn, 17% higher than in 2001.
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