A lawmaker in Beijing has called on authorities to make laws to strictly restrict smoking scenes in movies and teleplays to create a better environment for the health and growth of young people.

Currently, many smoking scenes can be seen in movies and teleplays. The police chief and detectives always light a cigarette when they come across thorny problems, said Gu Jin, at the annual meeting of the local legislature, the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, on Tuesday.

"Smoking stands for manhood in the eyes of most young boys, and such an understanding will inevitably exert a bad influence on their growth," Gu, a doctor of the Beijing Cancer Hospital, was quoted by the Beijing Evening News on Wednesday.

Gu also advised movie and teleplay producers against including smoking images in posters or other means of promotion.

The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration estimates that China has more than 350 million smokers, about 26 percent of the country's total population and a third of the world's smoking population. Each year, about 700,000 die from smoking-related diseases.

Gu also called for a smoking ban in public places, especially in schools, hospitals, kindergartens, theatres and stadiums, to support holding a "Green Olympics" in 2008.

To restaurants, cafes and other entertainment venues, he proposed setting up a smoking-free area first and then imposing a complete smoking ban gradually.

On Tuesday, Beijing's Disease Prevention and Control Center started a smoking ban drive, urging the city's 40,000 restaurants to "take an active move" and voluntarily ban smoking.

Currently, about 27 percent Beijingers smoke while the remainder are passive smokers from breathing in second-hand smoke, said Feng Ailan, a health expert with the center.

During the busy dinner hour, the air in many small and medium-size restaurants in Beijing is often blue with cigarette smoke.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2007)