Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find out the anti-smoking counselling frequency and its correlates in a sample of Chinese physicians. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, 268 physicians in Baoding, a city near Beijing, filled out a questionnaire asking about their own smoking status, their anti-smoking behaviors as well as their opinions on how to reduce cigarette smoking in China. Findings: The paper finds that 54 percent of the male and 8.4 percent of the female physicians were current cigarette smokers. When asked whether they had counselled their patients about cigarette smoking in the past year, 43.7 percent answered "always"; 38.1 percent "often"; 13.1 percent "sometimes"; 2.6 percent "occasionally", and 2.6 percent said: "not much". However, only 9.0 percent said that they were "very successful". Physicians' anti-smoking counselling practices were highly correlated with their own smoking status; whether they perceived their past anti-smoking activities as successful; whether they thought that they should set examples by not smoking; whether they felt that they had the responsibility to help patients and whether they perceived themselves as influential in persuading patients to quit smoking. Practical implications: The paper shows that messages aimed at increasing Chinese physicians' anti-smoking counselling should appeal to their responsibility, exemplary role, and unique influence on patients' health-related behaviors. Originality/value: The paper adds to the few studies on Chinese physicians' cigarette smoking behavior and their anti-smoking activities. In a country where cigarette smoking is a way of life among males, and few people are aware of the health consequences of cigarette smoking, physicians' efforts can be a spearhead to a cessation campaign. (Contains 3 tables.)