Shanghai will take part in a national quit-smoking contest beginning on June 1 that challenges participants to quit the habit for more than six months, the city's health authority has said.

The contest, which runs every two years, is open to any daily smoker of at least one year who is more than 18 years old.

Competitors are asked to abstain from smoking from June 1 to December 30.

Biochemical tests and witnesses will be used to prove competitors don't try to sneak a cigarette during the contest and a lucky draw will award one competitor 10,000 yuan (US$1,428.57).

The contest also set up a group for the city's medical workers to urge them to lead the no-smoking campaign.

Participants need to give their identity cards number when they sign up. They should also find two witnesses, an official of the city's Jing'an Disease Prevention and Control Center told Shanghai Daily via telephone today.

A 12320 hotline is available in both Chinese and English.

The China Quit-smoking Competition has been held by the country's Ministry of Health and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention since 1996. The ministry required all 31 provinces and regions to take part.

China is the largest cigarette producing and consuming country in the world. The country has 350 million smokers. More than three million people begin to smoke in the country every year.

(Shanghai Daily May 5, 2008)