Shanghai's smoking ban is paying off

Three months after Shanghai introduced its strictest ban ever on indoor smoking, the number of venues in which inspectors have found violations has risen as a result of more vigorous enforcement and tighter regulations, according to a report released by the Shanghai Health Promotion Commission on Wednesday, which was World No Tobacco Day.

About 30 percent of entertainment venues and 28 percent of restaurants inspected were found with smokers violating the ban, the commission said.

"The increase is not because there are more people smoking inappropriately. It's that the regulation is becoming stricter and inspections are more frequent and more widely carried out," said Cui Yuanqi, deputy director of the commission.