A Chinese student’s complaint about the lack of benches in a university smoking area has been strongly rejected by a teacher, reigniting discussions on smoking publicly in China.

The student at the Xian International Studies University, in northwestern Shaanxi province, made the complaint in the school’s internal feedback channel.

The complainant said the lack of benches made smoking too “exhausting” and asked the school to provide more.

A university teacher responded with a lengthy letter saying that making smokers feel tired was exactly why the area was designed in the way it was.

“The smoking area is not a resting area. We set them 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,” the letter said.