The Shanghai Health Enhancement Commission revealed that the majority of the people they surveyed are open to following the smoking ban in public places, should the proposal becomes a law.

The website asked 17,000 respondents in Shanghai if they will abide by the new regulation. 94 percent said yes, while 2 percent said they will only follow it when there are other people in the area. The other 1 percent said that they will stop smoking if a third party reminded them.  The other 2 percent did not express their opinions.

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Questioned if they would smoke outdoors in the presence of children and women, 94 percent said they will not while 3 percent said that they may not if alerted to the women and children's presence. The remaining 1 percent said that they will still smoke.

Currently, 16 percent smoke indoors, 18 percent stop smoking indoors when other people are present, while 64 percent never smoke indoors.

Smoking is not allowed in 13 kinds of public places in Shanghai, including children's hospitals, and primary and kindergarten schools. Shanghai's local government submitted a draft amendment in April to the National Legislature to implement a citywide ban on smoking.

The revised version covers all public areas in Shanghai such as airports and train stations which currently have designated smoking areas.  If the bill materializes, Shanghai will become China's third city that has a complete smoking ban, joining Beijing and Shenzhen.

Shanghai aims to implement the new rules before November when it will host the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion in partnership with the World Health Organization.

Tagssmoking ban, smoking ban in China