China has the world's largest smoking population, with about a quarter of the population smoking, and 740 million non-smokers are exposed to second-hand smoke. However, on the one hand, individual smokers are physically and mentally dependent on tobacco, and on the other hand, national tax revenue is partly dependent on the tobacco industry. If tobacco were eliminated at once, not only smokers would experience withdrawal symptoms, but so would the economic situation at all levels of the country. 
More people die each year from smoking-related diseases than from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined
 tobacco control in China can only be a gradual process.