Imagine taking your children to a school where tobacco is advocated as a tool to success. This sign in the middle of an elementary school in Sichuan Province reads:

“Genius comes from hard work
Tobacco helps you to be successful”

Cigarette producer Tobacco China started funding elementary education after the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. But for China, this move is far from new. According to the Beijing Youth Daily, the tobacco industry is sponsoring at least 69 other elementary schools across the country. Every year, thousands of children will be graduating from schools with names such as Qinghai Tobacco Hope or Liaoning Tobacco Trade Hope Elementary.

The Chinese regime’s laws do not put restrictions on advertisements for tobacco, unlike many countries around the world where cigarette packages carry health-warning messages.

Analysts indicate while many Chinese people wish to restrict tobacco advertisements, sometimes the poorer, rural regions are left with no choice. For them, it’s a constant toss-up between morals and funding for education.

Tobacco China spokesperson Meng Lingao claims tobacco firms sponsoring schools is about, “contributing to social welfare.”

China is the world’s largest consumer of cigarettes and is a signatory to a WTO agreement to ban all tobacco advertisements before 2011.