简体中文
The National Center for Health Inspection and Supervision conducted a survey monitoring how well the smoking ban was carried out in public spaces last year. It covered 144 restaurants, 140 hotels and lodgings in 4 provinces and autonomous regions across the country.
But it found that, for many, anti-smoking enforcement has been slack. Only 6.1 percent of the businesses have designated smoking areas, and only 1.4 percent have anti-smoking warning signs to alert smokers.
Authorities said that 90 percent of smokers in the areas surveyed admitted that they would have put out their cigarettes if they were told not to smoke.
SOUNDBITE(CHINESE): LI ZHUWEI, Anti-Smoking Volunteer
"In terms of supervision, it never takes long to smoke a cigarette so it is always difficult to find people when they are smoking. So I think it is better to appeal to their conscience in order to get them to follow the ban."
China announced an indoor smoking ban in public venues in May, 2011.
Experts pointed out that the law's enforcement faced challenges as it does not have specific clauses on enforcement procedures and penalties for indoor smoking.
China is also the largest tobacco-producing and consuming country in the world, with more than 300 million smokers and another 740 million people affected by passive smoking.
About 1 million Chinese people die from tobacco-related illnesses annually.
