In cities across China a growing number of women are directly confronting men who smoke in public, recording the encounters and sharing the videos online. The trend highlights both changing social norms and a long-standing gender divide in tobacco use: according to World Health Organization data, about 45% of Chinese men over 15 smoke, compared with roughly 2% of women.
One prominent figure is Hilda Wang, who films herself scolding smokers and posts the clips on social media. She describes herself as a natural introvert, but says her anger about public smoking has pushed her to act. In one widely shared video she lectures a man holding a cigarette; he objects to being filmed and walks away after she calls him an embarrassment.
Hilda is not alone. In Shenzhen, a dense metropolis of nearly 20 million people just north of Hong Kong, other women like her friend Luno Wang have taken to confronting smokers in public spaces. Luno uses the term “bros” to describe men she sees as inconsiderate and uncivilized; she says she often challenges smokers directly, asking bluntly whether their cigarettes are worth harming others.
Some confrontations have turned violent or led to arrests. In a clip that circulated this spring, a woman at a bus stop poured juice onto a man’s cigarette after he refused to put it out. He responded by throwing the empty cup at her and both were detained. The woman later posted on Weibo that police had strip-searched her; those posts were removed. State media reported that a female officer performed a “safety check” in line with regulations and that the man was fined for violating Shenzhen’s no-smoking rules at bus stops.
Public smoking bans exist in several Chinese cities, and enforcement has increased in places like Shanghai and Shenzhen. Still, smoking remains culturally common among men, and some see anti-smoking activism as a clash between new public-minded behavior and older habits. For example, Tan Tia-shan, a restaurant kitchen worker who has smoked for decades, says smoking is “refreshing” and a habit dating back to when men dominated social spaces. Yet he also offered a conciliatory view: he doesn’t object to the activists and said he would accept a lecture if it helped him quit.
Many men interviewed in Shenzhen expressed similar attitudes, saying they would not mind being admonished if it helped them break the addiction. Whether social-media confrontations will drive broader change is unclear, but these encounters are forcing public discussion about smoking, personal responsibility and the limits of public behavior in crowded urban spaces. For now, the anti-smoking women of China continue to push back against a deep-rooted habit, one filmed clip at a time.