Ad ban urged to help stub out smoking

According to a report earlier this month, the association found between November and February this year 151 promoting and sponsoring activities by tobacco enterprises. Of all 62 promotion activities, nearly half involved "cigarette appreciation seminars" (where people are invited to taste brands of cigarette). Of all 89 sponsorship activities, 92 percent involved donations from tobacco enterprises to schools, poverty or disaster relief, the report said.

"The advertising we found is just a part of all advertising activities by tobacco enterprises, as it is very difficult to discover all such activities," Xu said. "In recent years there have appeared many new forms of advertising, such as "tobacco tasting seminars" and cigarette-themed wedding expos, which are more difficult to be identified (than traditional advertising)."

Guo Xin, an official for students' health at the Beijing Disease Control and Prevention Center, said smoking rates among students in Beijing have not seen a decline in recent years, despite great efforts by health authorities to fight smoking.

"A major cause that students pick up the habit is curiosity," she said. "Tobacco advertising and the social environment contributed to their taking up smoking," she said.

Xiao Lin, a researcher at China's Tobacco Control Office, said compared with adults young people, including students, are more vulnerable to tobacco advertisements.

"It is difficult to persuade students not to smoke if a school is surrounded by tobacco stores," she said. "We must completely ban tobacco advertising for the sake of our next generations."

As the world's largest tobacco maker and consumer, China has more than 300 million smokers and another 740 million people exposed to second-hand smoke each year.

The number of smoking-related deaths is about 1.5 million a year in China, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

"I hope after a review by the National People's Congress, the draft amendment will become a law, which will be adopted to ban tobacco advertising completely," Jiang Yuan, deputy director of China's Tobacco Control Office, said.

Legislation on tobacco control has been accelerating in China in recent years.

In November, the National Health and Family Planning Commission proposed China's toughest-ever regulation on tobacco control, including banning smoking in all indoor public places and further restricting the number of places where smoking is allowed outdoors, which is still under review.

A tobacco control regulation adopted by Beijing, considered the toughest in China, will be implemented on June 1. The regulation forbids smoking in all indoor public areas and workplaces, and some outdoor areas, including schools, seating areas of sports stadiums and hospitals for women or children.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) in China announced support for the regulation and said it is a "huge step forward" for China's tobacco control efforts.

The WHO also launched a new social media campaign in anticipation of the implementation of the regulation. The campaign includes posters featuring several high profile Chinese celebrities, including singer Zhang Liangying and real estate tycoon Pan Shiyi, voicing their support for stronger tobacco control policies.

The posters will be circulated via social media and the Beijing government in its publicity campaigns to promote smoke-free and tobacco control policies.