Eat, drink and be merry. That's what Spring Festival is all about. But there are also millions of people who love to let happiness go up in smoke, literally.

Offering cigarettes to guests is a traditional Chinese way of showing respect. A cup of tea and a few cigarettes are perhaps the most common way of welcoming a guest in China, especially during festive occasions such as the Lunar New Year.

China Daily has recently carried an article, publishing the result of a survey by Think-tank Research Center for Health Development and Sohu.com. Of the 3800 people surveyed, 61 percent think offering a cigarette is useful for socializing, and 52 percent have offered cigarettes to others.

The paper quotes the research center director Wu Yiqun, as saying that people have accepted offering cigarettes as an effective way of making friends, which has made non-smoking campaigns even more difficult.

She says the survey shows we still have a lot of work to do. And since Beijing is trying to make the Olympic Games smoke-free, it is time to let people know that offering a cigarette is a bad habit and it should be given up immediately.

Wu Yiqun then urges young people to have non-smoking wedding ceremonies and banquets. By doing so, they would not only protect people from becoming passive smokers, but also save 15-20 percent of the ceremony expenses because that's what the cigarette budget usually adds up to.