Around 40 million of the country's 130 million children aged between 13 and 18 had tried smoking, according to a Health Ministry report on tobacco control emailed to AFP on Monday.
Fifteen million had become addicted to tobacco, the report said.
"The number of youths in China that have tried smoking and who now smoke increases year after year," the report said, without giving any comparative figures.
"Male students are the main smokers among school children, and in big cities, the number of female students who have tried smoking or who smoke is growing."
Between 66 and 68 percent of those that had tried tobacco products had smoked their first whole cigarette before they even reached 13, according to the report, a 15 percent increase from 1998.
