Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, the city of Qinhuangdao in Hebei province turned a botanical garden into an ancient-style health fair, using guides dressed in traditional hanfu and interactive games to promote a smoke-free lifestyle while launching a mass smoking cessation challenge.

The event at Qinhuang Botanical Garden was co-hosted by the municipal health commission, disease control bureau, and culture, tourism and broadcasting authority.

Organizers built a tobacco-control themed traditional Chinese market where staff carried embroidered sachets marked with no-smoking symbols, acting as non-player characters who led families and children through a series of educational games.

Activities included "Spot the Danger", which challenged children to recognize smoking-related diseases through visual puzzles, anti-smoking bowling, in which participants aimed to knock down cigarette-shaped pins, and "Guess the Fragrance", a game that encouraged an appreciation of natural scents instead of tobacco.

Organizers said the approach was designed to make anti-tobacco messages more fashionable and relatable, particularly for young people, and to help make smoke-free living a new norm of urban civility.

Alongside the fair, Qinhuangdao launched its third annual "100-Person, 100-Day Smoking Cessation Challenge". The program will support 100 smokers in an attempt to quit over 100 days, with professional guidance and regular follow-ups provided by health authorities.

Qinhuangdao, a coastal tourist destination, has been at the forefront of tobacco control, having enacted one of China's strictest public smoking bans in 2019 that prohibits lighting up in all indoor public places, workplaces, and public transport.

Liu Zhen contributed to this story.