White tea from the eastern Chinese province of Fujian is a unique tea variety. Although the health effects of various teas have been investigated in recent years, most studies focused exclusively on green tea varieties. In order to study effects exerted by white tea from eastern Fujian on the viability of cancer cells, we analyzed its main bioactive ingredients. We also evaluated the antioxidant activity of white tea aqueous extract (WTAE) and employed MTT assay to evaluate effects of WTAE on viabilities of Hela and BEL‐7402 cancer cell lines. Apoptosis rate detection was also applied to estimate efficacy of cellular apoptotic induction by WTAE in these two cells types. Results revealed that WTAE exhibited high antioxidant activity and inhibited effectively the proliferation of Hela and BEL‐7402 cells. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of WTAE for Hela cells (0.05 mg/mL) was lower than that for BEL‐7402 cells (0.1 mg/mL). Although WTAE induced apoptosis in both cell lines, pro‐apoptotic effects were markedly more apparent in Hela cells. Our study demonstrated that WTAE inhibited proliferation of cancer cells via induction of apoptosis and that Hela cells were more sensitive to WTAE than BEL‐7402 cells. Practical Application The aim of this study is to provide a new approach toward cancer prevention by consuming white tea, the properties of which may also be helpful in formulating novel anticancer therapeutics.