GUANGZHOU: This southern economic hub may snuff out smoking on official occasions once a new law takes effect.

"The proposal aims to accelerate the implementation of the new regulation and create the environment for a non-smoking Asian Games in 2010," said Su Jinzhong, deputy director of the standing committee of the municipal people's congress and one of the deputies who submitted the proposal.

The law bans smoking in kindergartens, cinemas, auditoriums and meeting rooms of government departments, State enterprises and public institutions, as well as places where there are pregnant women, while limiting smoking in bars, dance halls and game rooms.