A photo taken on February 27, 2017, shows a "No Smoking" sign in a shop in Shanghai. (Photo/Chinanews.com)
May 31st marks the 30th World No Tobacco Day.
As such, many Chinese experts are urging more efforts to control tobacco's consumption.
Stats have shown that China, the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer, has more than 300 million smokers.
The country's tobacco consumption accounting for 44% of the world's total.
Medical research has suggested that smoking can result in a variety of fatal illnesses such as lung cancer, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases.
Hu Dayi, head of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, said smoking has become one of the unhealthiest lifestyles among Chinese people.
"Tobacco consumption might be one of the leading factors bringing a negative impact on Chinese people's physical health. Currently more and more Chinese people die young because of myocardial infarction or heart attack, and most of their deaths resulted from smoking. Many young and energetic people are still unaware of the issue's seriousness, and as such, it deserves much more attention," said Hu.
China has taken a series of measures to control tobacco consumption, as well as increase the public's awareness of the harm of smoking.
Several Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have adopted anti-smoking legislation and imposed bans on smoking in all indoor public places, work places and public transport vehicles.
Wu Yiqun, an expert from the ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development, urged that education among teenagers on tobacco control should be further enhanced, so that to prevent them from being new smokers.
"I strongly suggest that more anti-smoking and tobacco control campaign should be introduced on campus, since many young and teenage students will have become adults by the year of 2030. To ensure that they will not become new smokers when becoming adults, those teenagers must be fully aware that they should always stay away from smoking at a very early age," said Wu.
According to the "Healthy China 2030" blueprint, a plan on health development in China in the next 13 years issued by the country's central authorities, measures will be taken to cut the number of smokers such as higher taxes on cigarettes and other stricter laws and regulations.