Liangliang, a two-and-a-half-year-old, has been smoking for more than a year. His father gave him the cigarettes to relieve pain from a hernia. [Photo: Bohai Morning Post]

by Li Zijuan

At only two-and-a-half years old, this toddler has been smoking for more than a year and says he enjoys the feeling of blowing smoke, the Bohai Morning Post reports.

Tong Liangliang, who is from Shandong Province and is now living with his parents in Tianjin, smokes at least a pack of cigarettes every day.

Liangliang was born with a hernia, which is caused by a piece of tissue or organ squeezing through a hole in the muscle or membrane in which it was normally contained. Liangliang is too young to get an operation, the father says. Therefore, he allowed the child to smoke to relieve and detract attention from exceeding pain from the hernia. The father wasn't aware how serious the toddler's habit had become until the child began to increase the number of cigarettes he smoked per day.

With regret and anxiety, Liangliang's parents welcome any advice on a good method to quit smoking.