Health fears swept aside as Chinese catch up with the e cigarette habit

Models at the Vape China Expo 2015 target the country’s 300 million smokers with  brands such as   'Pigsy Vape'
Models at the Vape China Expo 2015 target the country’s 300 million smokers with brands such as 'Pigsy Vape'
IMAGINECHINA/CORBIS

Shen Fei, a Beijing builder who puffed through two packs of cigarettes a day, tried his first electronic cigarette this year.

Now he has quit both tobacco and construction sites to focus full-time on vaping. “It’s a healthy product, and a new opportunity,” Shen, 25, said as he prepared to open the first vape shop in northern Beijing.

“We’ll target non-smokers too,” said An Mingyang, 24, his wife, who gave up teaching in a kindergarten to realise their dream. “We won’t sell to young kids, but if they’re 15 or 16 and look like adults, then why not?”

Excited by “Clean Lungs No 1” and other China-specific brands of e-liquid, the couple are confident of cashing in on the craze for vaping, which has finally