Still months to next season’s CBA. Yao Ming, the All-Star Houston Rockets center and new Shanghai Sharks boss, has joined an anti-smoking campaign to urge 350 million Chinese smokers to drop the habit.

From Al Jazeera:

While smoking is on the decline in many Western countries, China is one of the world’s fastest growing smoking markets with public surveys showing a low awareness of the health risks.

About 350 million Chinese, or more than a quarter of the population, are smokers and health officials say about one million Chinese die every year from lung cancer or other smoking-related illnesses.

Tens of millions more are put at risk by passive smoking, because of the lax enforcement of rules banning smoking in public places.

Such a nice thing to do, isn’t it? I sincerely hope they can promote anti smoking in Gongti and other stadiums. What’s the point of lighting a cigarette when watching football live in a stadium? Bù Shuǎng!