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This is Story in the Story.

E-cigarettes are a booming industry in China. Although China only had a 6 percent share in the consumption of e-cigarettes in the world as of 2016, according to a report by Chinese consulting firm ASKCI Consulting, about 90 percent of e-cigarettes in the world are manufactured in China, mostly in Shenzhen.

Its invention is also deeply connected with China. Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik reportedly invented the device in the early 2000s, hoping that it could help him quit smoking. But it soon gave rise to a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Now, China's domestic consumption of e-cigarettes has also started booming. In 2016, China's e-cigarette market expanded by 316 percent.

A report by TF Securities in October 2017 estimates that the domestic e-cigarette market will expand 50 to 100 billion yuan ($7.2 to $14.4 billion), and is expected to give rise to numerous business opportunities. 

Today’s Story in the Story will look at the e-cigarette industry and how Chinese cities are mulling a public ban on them, even though China is their biggest producer.

The international e-cigarette experience exhibition was held in Beijing in October 2017. (Photo: Global Times)

Chen Yang (pseudonym), 10, enjoys puffing on the new device that she bought in a shop near her school. It's an e-cigarette, and popular among her classmates. 

Her mother was later astonished to find that e-cigarettes are common in shops near her school in Xianning, Hubei Province. Students buy the device thinking it's cool, and imitate adults smoking. 

This case, reported by the Xianning Daily, is only one of many that show how e-cigarettes are increasingly popular among minors in China.

According to the World Health Organization, electronic cigarettes are devices that do not burn or use tobacco leaves but instead vaporize a solution the user then inhales. While they are healthier than cigarettes, the majority of e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which harms the central nervous system of teens, according to a report by the US surgeon general.

While consumption of e-cigarettes soars in China over the recent years, the country is lacking in regulations on their manufacture, sale and use, worrying anti-smoking experts and educators.

Guo Tao, a Beijing-based e-commerce expert who tried e-cigarettes a few years ago, said consumers of e-cigarettes in China can be divided into two main categories.

"One is veteran smokers who hope e-cigarettes can help them quit smoking, as e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking," he said.

But increasingly, young people, including high school and college students, have started to vape, joining what they think is a cool sub-culture.

"A lot of people regard e-cigarettes as a way to show off their personality and how they're keeping up with the latest fashion. They probably have never smoked before, but e-cigarettes give them a taste of nicotine," he said.

This new trend is getting experts worried. Wu Yiqun, deputy director of the Beijing-based think tank Research Center for Health Development, fears that e-cigarettes will damage young people's health and introduce them to smoking tobacco-based cigarettes.

Wu said many of these e-cigarettes have false information about the amount of nicotine they contain. And it's difficult to know whether they contain any other ingredients that are harmful.

(Photo: CGTN)

Although China is the world's largest e-cigarette manufacturer, and despite the growing popularity in China, the manufacture, sale and use of e-cigarettes remain largely unregulated. 

"E-cigarettes are regulated at most as an electronic device. It's not regulated as a tobacco product, pharmaceutical product or medical device," Guo said.

As China heightens its crackdown on smoking, it is also waking up to the potential danger of e-cigarettes.

In April, Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, issued a new smoking regulation that applies to both traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes, banning their use in public indoor spaces. 

This month, Xi'an has started to implement a new smoking regulation that encourages operators of businesses, such as restaurants, to make their own regulations on e-cigarettes. Beijing's health authorities also said they will look into studies of e-cigarettes and their management and explore a ban on vaping in public areas.

On September 29, a passenger who vaped in the toilet on a flight from Hangzhou to Changchun was given five days administrative detention by airport police. According to the police, vaping on airplanes is banned in China.

As for sales, this August, Chinese authorities including the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration issued a notice banning the selling of e-cigarettes to minors, citing the lack of a national standard as one of the reasons.

However, this document isn't legally binding.

Experts say these regulations are not enough.

"The manufacturing, promotion, advertising, and sales of e-cigarettes should all be regulated. Use of e-cigarettes should be banned in public areas such as on public transportation, so that people don't have to suffer from second-hand vapor," Wu said.

According to recommendations of the World Health Organization, because exhaled vapor cannot be proven to be not harmful to bystanders, e-cigarette users should be legally banned indoors, especially where smoking is banned.

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Grace Xinyi Song, Lance Crayon, Brian Lowe and Da Hang. Music by: bensound.com. Text from Global Times.)