Academician tarred with industry's brush

This is a country of contradictions. While China has executed a ban on smoking in all indoor public places, a great many restaurants send suffocating smoke signals that the ban is being ignored, and Xie Jianping, a scientist who specializes in research on low-tar cigarettes has been elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering, an honorary body that advises the government.

The 52-year-old, called the "Killer Academician" by netizens, works as the deputy director of Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Center, which is affiliated with the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC).

State-owned CNTC is the largest cigarette producer in the world and the dominant company in the Chinese market, which means it is also a main source of revenue for the State. The tobacco sector turned in taxes and profits of 513.11 billion yuan ($75.46 billion) to the national coffers in 2009, a year-on-year increase of 12.2 percent.