Student invents breathing device to ward off secondhand smoke from his roommates

This is what happens when you’re too shy to ask your roommates to go smoke outside.
Fed up with the secondhand smoke in his dorm room, a university student in Nanning invented a device so that he could study to his heart’s content while his roommates puffed away.


His invention is as simple as it looks. His head is covered by a cardboard box which is connected to a series of trash bags. Air is blown in using a small electric fan above the door. In case you’re still confused, he uploaded a handy schematic to demonstrate how it works.


Its inventor confesses that the device doesn’t work as well in winter, with the cold air blown into the room numbing his face.


A college education well spent?

Netizens on Weibo were amused by the spectacle, with some criticizing students who choose to smoke in their dorm room.
“Smoking in the dormitory is very dangerous because it will likely cause conflagration. Universities should prohibit students from smoking in the dormitories,” one advised.
“Students should go outside the dormitories to smoke. Please respect non-smoker students!” another urged.
“Living with students who smoke is like a torture. When I was a university student, I was once awoken by the smoke coming from my roommates. All my clothes, the bed and my towels smelled of cigarette. I’m just glad that I no longer have to live in that dormitory,” one netizen recalled.

A study published last year revealed that two-thirds of young men pick up smoking mostly before the age 20. with one in three men in China likely to be killed by diseases caused by their habit.
China has been attempting to teducate its citizens about the risks of smoking, going so far as to teach gestures to students in Beijing to encourage those around them not to smoke.
By Katie Ngai
[Images via NetEase]