High-price cigarettes sign that gift-giving corruption is back

THE STATE TOBACCO MONOPOLY ADMINISTRATION issued a ban on high-price tobacco products in March 2012, forbidding sales of cigarettes labeled or actually sold for more than 1,000 yuan ($146) per 200. However, there are now shops selling cigarettes at three times that price. China Youth Daily comments:

In order to prevent its ban from becoming just a scrap of paper, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration needs to investigate and punish those shops that are flouting the ban. If a shop that breaks the ban goes unpunished, there is danger of other shops following suit.

However, in order to solve the problem, we need to ask why the shops are selling high-price cigarettes despite the ban?