Statistics from the National Health and Family Planning Commission showed the smoking rate among men is 52.96 percent, and more than 28 percent of people older than 15 light up. About 1.4 million Chinese die from smoking-related diseases every year on the mainland, accounting for one-third of the world's total.

The most blame went to China Tobacco, a Chinese government-granted monopoly firm which now holds 90% of the market, as the biggest hurdle to the nation's anti-smoking drive, whose argument that "tobacco contributes revenues, jobs and incomes" is a formidable barrier to tobacco control. After all, for an industry providing as much as 10 percent of its country's overall tax revenue, there is always entangled interests.

Logos of China Tobacco in Qingdao city of Shandong province on March 6, 2013. [Photo/icpress.cn]