China bans smoking in public, offenders to be fined N6,400

If you're a smoker, don't even bother going to China,because now it has become an offence to smoke in public as the country introduce new tough regulation which bans smoking in  restaurants, offices and on public transport in capital, Beijing. 

China has over 300 million smokers and more than a million Chinese die from smoking-related illnesses every year. Smoking bans already existed in China, but have largely failed to crack down on the habit.

Smoking in China often seems like a national pastime. The country consumes a third of the world's cigarettes. More than half of men smoke. It's seen by many as a masculine trait - women, in contrast, rarely smoke.

A common greeting among men is to offer a cigarette - the more expensive, the better. A carton of cigarettes also remains a popular gift.

Anti-tobacco campaigners say many smokers are simply unaware of the health risks of their habit. They accuse the authorities of being addicted to the tax revenues generated by cigarette sales and therefore not warning smokers about the dangers.

But now there are signs the government has changed its mind. In the past, China's leaders such as Chairman Mao and his successor Deng Xiaoping were rarely seen without a cigarette in hand. But the current President Xi Jinping has bucked the trend: he's quit. And he's also banned officials from smoking in public in order to set an example.

The new rules were agreed by lawmakers in November 2014 but only came into effect on 1 June.

Under the legislation lawbreakers in Beijing will be fined 200 yuan (£21; $32) and businesses that turn a blind eye could be fined up to 10,000 yuan.

Repeat offenders will be named and shamed on a government website, according to the Reuters news agency.

The new law also cracks down on tobacco advertising across the city.

The World Health Organization has welcomed the new tougher regulations.

"When implemented, this new law will permanently bring clean air to all of Beijing's indoor public places - in doing so, protecting Beijing's more than 20 million residents from the deadly effects of exposure to toxic second-hand smoke," said its representative in China, Dr Bernhard Schwartlander.