China’s Nonsmokers Try to Clear the Air, One Confrontation at a Time

Disputes between smokers and nonsmokers are becoming more visible as a younger generation increasingly refuses to suffer secondhand smoke in silence.

By Berry Wang; Reporting from Hong Kong

Aug. 5, 2026

Amanda Zhang was planning a quiet dinner out with her mother, who had recently undergone surgery for lung cancer. But as Ms. Zhang walked through a shopping mall, she was suddenly confronted by clouds of cigarette smoke in the corridor outside the restaurant.

Worried about her mother’s health, Ms. Zhang, a student in her 20s, approached the source, a middle-aged couple, and pointed out that smoking in indoor public areas was not allowed in Nanjing, a city in eastern China. When they persisted, she went into the restaurant, pulled out her phone and began photographing them through the window.

The man rushed inside and started berating her. He shoved his own phone in her face, taking photos. His family members, who were also eating at the restaurant, joined in the scolding. “If you don’t want to breathe smoke, stay home!,” his daughter can be heard screaming in a video Ms. Zhang recorded, which was reviewed by The New York Times.

Such friction is not unusual in China, which consumes roughly half the world’s cigarettes and where enforcement of local smoking bans can be lax or virtually nonexistent. Smokers routinely light up at bus stops, elevators, parks, restaurants and even hospitals.

While tensions have simmered for years, disputes over smoking are becoming more visible — often amplified by social media — as a younger generation increasingly confronts smokers in public venues and demands stronger enforcement of rules.

“My mother told me not to meddle in others’ business, even though she has lung cancer,” Ms. Zhang said in an interview. “But the smokers have become out of control these days.”

In June, a man in Shanghai was injured in a brawl at a restaurant after trying, according to state media, to shield his pregnant wife from secondhand smoke.

In April, a woman surnamed Wang confronted a man who was smoking at a bus stop in Shenzhen. She splashed fruit juice on his hand, according to a police report cited by state media. Both were taken to a police station, where an officer strip-searched her, Ms. Wang said in a post online, an ordeal that set off an outcry on social media.

The same month, the police responded to another smoking-related assault at the Shanghai Disney Resort. That 34-year-old smoker apologized and provided compensation to the 24-year-old man who had complained, according to a police statement.

Smoking is less common among young Chinese. Just 10 percent of people aged 15 to 24 were smokers in 2024, less than half the national rate.