Smoking threatens young women (3)

Yang is a supporter of banning smoking in public places, and suggests the government also introduce other measures such as printing graphic warnings on cigarette packs about the dangers of smoking, banning tobacco advertising, and offering free advice on stopping smoking.

Other survey findings showed the male smoking rate reached 54 percent on the mainland, second worldwide only after Russia, where 60 percent of men light up.

In response, the Russian government has just passed a bill banning tobacco ads and smoking in public places.

"The Chinese government should follow suit — such measures provide countries with far-reaching and long-term benefits for public health and chronic disease prevention," Yang noted.

She said in recent years China has made efforts at controlling smoking, "but they are far from enough", she added.