Where there's smoke, there's a fine

Standing at 19.9 percent at the end of last year, Shanghai plans to reduce the adult smoking rate to below 18 percent by 2030.

The city health enhancement commission has shifted the anti-smoking campaign up a gear by clamping down on smoking in public places and raising awareness of the harm that smoking, second-hand smoke do.

In a recent campaign focused on mahjong, chess and card-playing rooms and other entertainment venues. Of the 250 venues checked around one in 10 were caught breaking the rules and were fined a total of around 180,000 yuan (US$25,316). The campaign will now move on to eateries and Internet cafes.

In the first six months of the year, the city distributed almost a million anti-smoking leaflets and held almost 7,000 events.

Smoking is banned in all public indoor places and some outdoor places where children and large numbers of people are expected to gather.