Children as young as 10 light up

The number of children who smoke is worrying doctors, with more than a quarter of students who use cigarettes saying they started puffing at age 10.

A survey released by the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week that was carried out early this year among more than 10,000 middle school students found 25 percent had tried smoking.

Nearly 10 percent said they had smoked in the previous 30 days, and more than 5 percent had smoked at least one cigarette a week during the previous three months.