China's broadcasting watchdog has decided to intensify the supervision on smoking scenes in movies and TV series.

In a recent statement released by the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT), censoring institutions and TV drama and film producers were asked to try their best to avoid "unnecessary and long-time smoking scenes."

The administration said that its obligation and responsibility lie in the efforts to realize "no smoking in films and TV series", The Beijing News reported on Friday.

The statement was a response to public outcry against the "too smoky" TV series "New Shanghai Bund" aired nationwide earlier this year.

Members of the Beijing-based non-profit organization, Think Tank Research Center for Health Development, submitted a formal complaint to the SARFT in July this year, criticizing the TV series for showing too many scenes of smoking.

The 42-episode drama, New Shanghai Bund, is the latest remake of a 1980 classic which turned Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-Fat into a star. It revolves around a group of gangland mobsters in 1930s Shanghai.

Think Tank found that 36 percent of Chinese TV dramas made in the past two years showed actors smoking in an average of 30 scenes, with one appearing at an average interval of 12 minutes.

Rampant smoking scenes in TV series "reflect the producer's weak awareness of smoking control," said the statement.

The SARFT, however, admitted that as there is no effective laws and regulations on smoking control in China, a ban on smoking scenes lacks on legal basis.

(Xinhua News Agency October 5, 2007)