China: Tobacco control campaign

Abstract

China, with more than 300 million smokers, is unfortunately the largest tobacco producing and consuming country in the world, partly because of its long history of tobacco use—more than 400 years—and partly because of its traditions. Offering or lighting cigarettes for others is a common way of showing respect and friendship on social occasions. Furthermore, China was very late in joining the international tobacco control community, the programmes having been started 20 years later than in developed countries. Accordingly, tobacco control in this huge country has been an enormous challenge. Tobacco control campaigns in China can be divided into two periods: before and after establishment of the Chinese Association on Smoking and Health (CASH).