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Smoke still clouding up movies and TV

In February 2011, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television ordered that film and TV series makers restrict smoking scenes and ban shots showing tobacco brands or minors in scenes with others lighting up.

The more young people see such scenes, the more likely they are to start smoking, Xu said.

A previous survey conducted by the association found that nearly one of four students age 12 to 14 had tried smoking. Nearly 16 percent of middle school students light up regularly, it said.

"Chinese teenagers appeared to start smoking at a younger age than before and smoking scenes in movies and TV soaps surely play a role," Xu said.

China has more than 300 million smokers on the mainland and at least 1.2 million people die from smoking-related diseases each year, accounting for one-fifth of the world's total, statistics from the World Health Organization showed.

Also, 740 million suffer from passive smoking, nearly 49 percent of whom are 15 to 19 years old.

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.