Photographs posted online of a group of teenage girls in their school uniforms smoking on a street in Foshan, Guangdong province, have aroused public concern.

The photos were published on a popular, local online forum by an Internet user, who goes by the pseudo name "toxicwaltz", on Tuesday afternoon.

An undated photograph posted recently online shows five schoolgirls smoking on a street in Foshan, Guangdong province.

The post on www.ttx.com.cn said the five girls, four of whom were seen smoking in the photographs, are students of the Foshan No 10 Middle School.

The photos show two of the girls throwing their cigarettes while two continued puffing after they noticed a camera pointed in their direction.

"It is usual to see schoolboys smoke, but I never expected such awful behavior from girls," wrote "toxicwaltz".

"What makes me even sadder is that there is a slogan on the gate of their school that reads: 'To advance education, to optimize and strengthen rules'."

Official statistics show China has more than 350 million smokers. According to data released by the Ministry of Health in 2008, 15 million children between the ages of 13 and 18 smoke.

Wang Yuqi, a junior high school student from Hebei province, said that boys who smoke are a bad influence on the girls.

"They (the boys) want to pretend to be mature (by smoking). Girls follow."