BEIJING – A ban on smoking in most public buildings has come into force in the Chinese capital, Beijing.
The BBC said move is an attempt to discourage some of China’s 350 million smokers and also part of wider efforts to clean up the city in the run up to the Olympics.
For every three cigarettes lit worldwide, one is smoked in China. Almost 25 per cent of the Chinese smoke.
The city authorities have imposed a ban on smoking in most public buildings.
They say they are organising 100,000 existing employees to act as an enforcement team.
The authorities had wanted restaurants and bars to be mostly smoke-free as well, but there was too much resistance.
Instead, they must provide non-smoking areas or rooms.
