China tells government workers to smoke more.

From Ananova:

A Chinese region has backtracked on a rule urging local government workers to smoke more to boost tax income.

Authorities in Gong'an county told civil servants and teachers to smoke 230,000 packs of the locally-made Hubei brand each year.

Those who did not smoke enough or used brands from other provinces or overseas faced being fined or even fired, reports the BBC.

But the government has now backtracked from the policy, after a report in a local newspaper generated criticism.

"The regulation will boost the local economy via the cigarette tax," Chen Nianzu, a member of the cigarette market supervision team in Gong'an county, Hubei province, told the Global Times newspaper.