I'm surprised people are so judgmental there. In my experience (having worked a lot with tourists) Chinese people were noticeably inconsiderate in public, like farting, spitting etc. I think it's surprising that this is such a hangup for them especially outdoors.
I've never smoked but I don't mind if people do and I find all the health and safety rules a bit annoying these days. I miss the smokey boozy bars way after closing time.
In fact in my city, Hong Kong, they are now under 10% of the population smoking, and on the street, when I smoke at the ashtray reserved for that on top of the public trashes (yeah, it's not a luxury habit anymore), people wave their hands in front of their nose while passing, "loudly" signaling my alien nature, something I had never experienced in France where I come from.