SpicyTricks

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has visited China to raise awareness of the dangers of second-hand smoke.

About 300 million people in China smoke, and smoking-related illness kills at least a million people each year.

New rules banning smoking in venues like hotels and restaurants took effect in May, but still exclude workplaces.

Mr Gates says he's working with Chinese internet companies to encourage nonsmokers to ask people not to smoke around them.

"I think we can be pioneers in how online media both lets people know about the damage of forced smoking and gives them some education about how in a very polite way they can ask people not to put them in that situation," he said.

"This alliance will let us bring new resources and new creativity to that, both the traditional media and the online media, and I think we can be pioneers in how online media, both lets people know about the damage of forced smoking and gives them some education about how in a very polite way they can ask people not to put them in that situation," he said.

China's Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu says there is still a way to go to control the effects of smoking.

"We haven't completed the task we had promised at the FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control). Tobacco products still harm society severely. If we can't handle the challenge of tobacco well, we will have three million people dead from tobacco every year from 2030," he said.

Nearly 30 per cent of adults in China smoke - about 300 million people, a number roughly equal to the entire US population.