Feeling ‘tired’ smoking while standing: Chinese teacher slams student’s ‘lack of benches’ complaint in smoking area

A Chinese student’s complaint regarding lack of benches in the smoking area at a university received a strong rejection by the teacher and sparked major discussion over smoking publicly in China.

Using the school’s internal feedback channel, the student at the Xian International Studies University in northwestern Shaanxi province had earlier complained about lack of benches, which makes smoking too “exhausting”. The student even asked the administration to provide more benches.

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What happened next was something that the student never expected. A teacher at the university responded with a lengthy letter stating that making smokers feel tired was exactly why the area was designed in the way it was, according to South China Morning Post.

The letter from the teacher said that the smoking area in the university was not a “resting area,” adding that it set up to “provide a transition space for those who temporarily cannot quit smoking, to smoke away from the crowd and reduce the influence of second-hand smoke on other people”.

“When you complain about feeling ‘tired’ smoking while standing, have you thought of how tired other people are withstanding your second-hand smoke?… What really makes you tired is not the lack of benches, but your dependence on cigarettes. If you feel tired, then smoke less. If you want comfort, you can go to the library, classroom or the playground,” it added.

Towards the end, the teacher even offered help to all those looking forward to quit smoking.

The teacher at the university has been praised by many on the social media platforms in China, according to South China Morning Post.

“This is a perfectly written letter, logical, comprehensive, thoughtful. I hope more students can realise the harm of smoking,” one person wrote.

Another added, “This is what true education is like”.

A third person was shocked to find out that there were “smoking areas in universities. I thought smoking is banned everywhere there”.

As per the 2024 China Adult Tobacco Survey carried out by the China’s National Health Commission, smoking rate among people aged 15 and above is 23.2 per cent in the country – a decrease of 0.9 from 2022.

On the other hand, the smoking rate among men was 43.9 per cent and 1.8 per cent among women.