This Day, That Year

Item from April 8, 1988, in China Daily: Chen Minzhang, minister of public health, yesterday spoke to pedestrians on Wang fujing Street in Beijing about the hazards of smoking. About 1,400 billion cigarettes go up in smoke each year in China.

Health departments report that more than 100,000 Chinese died of cancer last year as a result of smoking. Experts predicted that by the year 2050, the death toll among Chinese smokers will reach 2 million a year.

China is the world's largest tobacco maker and consumer.