China signed the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) as early as 2003, and the document began to formally take effect as of January 2006. As the guidelines for worldwide tobacco control, the FCTC contains some specific stipulations on tobacco control for signatories, including pricing and taxation, fighting tobacco trafficking, and a ban on tobacco sales to non-adults.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), the Chinese government adopted a series of effective measures to facilitate the fulfillment of the WHO convention, and some positive effects have been achieved. However, more forcible measures need to be introduced to curb the country's expanding smoking population and the prevalence of smoking.

No binding national-level law has so far been promulgated to ban smoking in public places, except some administrative rules by local governments for this purpose. Due to the lack of a legal document to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, various kinds of advertisements for tobacco sales are common on the radio, TV and the Internet, and in print media. As a result, the smoking population has not been reduced in China despite government and non-governmental efforts in recent years and the volume of tobacco production and sales has been steadily growing.

The 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015) will be a crucial period for the country to realize its ambitious goal of building an all-round well-off society by 2020, one of whose core targets is ensuring people can enjoy a healthy life, with an average life expectancy of 77.