Some 95 percent of Beijing businesses are now smoke-free. This achievement comes after 40 months of enforcement of strict no-smoking regulations, and represents a big improvement from June 2015, when a strict no-smoking policy was announced.

At that time, only 77 percent of businesses that were supposed to be smoke-free complied with regulations.

Since then, monitors and enforcement staff made more than 700,000 inspections, demanding nearly 20,000 businesses begin complying with the regulations, and issuing fines of over 500,000 yuan.

Research on e-cigarettes is underway to determine its negative impact and the feasibility of banning vaping in public areas, said officials from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning.