Amid rumors of Jiang Zemin's death, some are saying that the ex-leader who presided over the 1997 handover of Hong Kong died from lung cancer.

Cancer is now the leading cause of death in China, and lung cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer in the country, according to Grist.

While there is no conclusive evidence to prove that Jiang even died at all, it isn't beyond the pale of imagination that he could have died from lung cancer, given statistics on smoking-related deaths in the People's Republic.

Cigarettes are related to four of the five top causes of death in China.

There are some 1.2 million smoking-related fatalities a year in the Central Kingdom.

China has gone through several movements to push for anti-smoking legislation, but a strong relationship between the central government and the nation's big tobacco has resulted in failure for anti-smoking activists each time.

Although there are warnings on Chinese cigarette packets, they are often too small to read or printed in English and have little effect on Chinese smokers.

Tobacco-related deaths are slated to triple by 2030 if ongoing gestures toward anti-smoking legislation continue to fail, according to Radio86.com.

China Cancer Cancer Cancer