DOCTORS WITH LUNG CANCER PATIENT IN BEIJING, 1997-08-24 (photo)

FOR RELEASE WITH STORY-BC-CHINA-TOBACCO-SMOKING - Doctors Zhang Hongyu (C) and Yang Yuanhua (L) study x-ray results as a despondent Wang Jie, 65, sits on her bed in a Beijing hospital. Wang, a retired factory worker who has smoked for 30 years, is being treated for lung cancer and is soon likely to be a statistic -- one of the hundreds of thousands who die each year in China from smoking related diseases. China collected 41 billion yuan ($ 4.9 billion) in cigarette taxes in 1993 but economic losses caused by smoking totalled 65 billion yuan ($7.8 billion) World Health Organisation figures show. Beijing is host to the five-day 10th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, starting August 24. Picture taken 19AUG97. FEATURE