Recently, a banner of "prohibiting smoked products" issued by the Houbu Sub-district Office of Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province has attracted widespread attention. The ban was intended to reduce air pollution and fire risks, but it also sparked debate about whether to respect local traditions and Xi.
On December 27, the staff of the Law Enforcement Brigade of the Environmental Protection Bureau of Anyuan District, Pingxiang City, confirmed that it is indeed not recommended that residents in the central city make smoked products at home, mainly for environmental protection and fire protection considerations. Despite this, staff said that if there are elderly people in residents' homes who insist on smoking bacon, they should be dissuaded, while in sparsely populated rural areas it is relatively lenient.
The Pingxiang Municipal Administration for Market Regulation also stressed that it was against smoking that could cause fires, not all smoked bacon. In addition, fires caused by smoked bacon were frequent in previous years, and on December 22, 2023, a fire was caused by smoked bacon in a resident's home, resulting in a large amount of bacon being burned. Since 2021, Pingxiang City has begun to strictly prohibit the use of "local method" to smoke bacon in the urban area and surrounding areas. At the beginning of 2022, some sub-district offices introduced eco-friendly meat smokers, which residents can use for free to reduce environmental pollution and fire risks.
Behind this news, there is a balance between environmental protection and traditional culture. In the context of increasing environmental pollution, the government has introduced such a ban to protect the environment and reduce the risk of pollution and fire. However, it has also sparked a discussion about respecting traditional culture, and smoked bacon, as an important traditional food, has an emotional connection and meaning for some residents. How to strike a balance between environmental protection and traditional culture is an issue that needs to be pondered.
We should maintain a balanced and neutral stance on this issue. Understand that the government has issued such a ban for environmental protection and public safety considerations, but at the same time, it is also necessary to respect and understand the residents' feelings and inheritance of traditional culture. And the introduction of eco-friendly meat smokers and allowing relatively relaxed smoking policies in rural areas is a good compromise and solution.
On the deeper causes, we can see that environmental pollution and fire risk are the main reasons behind this problem. According to the Pingxiang Environmental Protection Bureau, fires caused by smoked bacon have been frequent in previous years, resulting in a lot of property damage. This also illustrates the necessity and urgency of the government's ban.
At present, the government needs to introduce more clear and detailed policies to improve this problem, and at the same time, it is also necessary to strengthen the publicity and education of residents, so that they are aware of the importance of balancing environmental protection and traditional culture. At the same time, we can learn from international cases that deal with similar problems, such as South Korea's promotion of the use of environmentally friendly meat smokers, as a revelation for this problem.
In summary, the government's policy of banning bacon smoked at home in central urban areas is intended to reduce environmental pollution and fire risks, but it has also sparked discussions about respecting traditional culture. In the process of solving this problem, the government needs to balance the relationship between environmental protection and traditional culture, strengthen policy publicity and education, and promote the promotion of environmentally friendly meat smokers, in order to achieve a win-win situation of environmental protection and traditional cultural inheritance.