A still of Gone With The Bullets. The film has 45 smoking scenes, showing one every 3.1 minutes. [Photo/IC]

Smoking scenes also appear with a high frequency in TV series, with 70 percetn of the 30 most popular TV series broadcast last year containing such scenes.

Some TV series that highlight achievements of former Chinese revolutionary leaders, including Chairman Mao Zedong, contain the most smoking.

"We urge film and TV series directors to refrain from including smoking footage," said Xu Guihua, deputy director of the association.

Such footage can set a bad example for young people and may cause them to take up smoking, and they should be eliminated from films and TV series, she said.

As the world's largest tobacco maker and consumer, China has more than 300 million smokers, almost the size of the US population, and another 740 million people are exposed to second-hand smoke each year.

Apart from shame awards, China's top legislature in April adopted an amendment to the Advertisement Law, banning tobacco advertising on mass media, in public places, public vehicles and outdoors.

Meanwhile, Beijing will pilot the country's toughest smoking ban starting June 1, prohibiting smoking in all indoor public places, workplaces, and on public transportation.