A Chinese live-streamer died after drinking excessive amounts of Baijiu, a strong alcoholic beverage, sometimes called “Chinese Moonshine.”
The drinking binge reportedly happened on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, BBC reported Monday.
The user, known as Brother Three Thousand, downed approximately seven bottles of Baijiu while live-streaming the event on May 16.
According to the Baijiu America website, its name means “White Liquor,” and its production and consumption began over 1,000 years ago.
“Each sip of the Baijiu should be allowed to slowly move through the whole mouth, starting with the tongue, then moving onto the sides, and finally reaching the throat. Drink slowly as when drinking water,” the site advises.
According to the BBC article, the man was reportedly found dead 12 hours after the incident, which has since “sparked calls for stronger regulations of the country’s booming livestreaming industry.”
The 34-year-old man, whose last name is reportedly Wang, took part in several challenges in which influencers compete to earn gifts from their followers before time runs out.
The influencer apparently lost three rounds and had to drink bottles of the liquor as a punishment. He ended his video after midnight.
His body was discovered the following day, and a funeral was later held for him.
Social media users shared their thoughts on the story:
Brother Three Thousand was a popular livestreamer on China's Douyin app.
Posted by BBC News on Monday, May 22, 2023
“Because of likes, followers and fame, people are doing the unthinkable on social media to attract attention,” one person wrote.
The BBC noted the Douyin platform has banned drinking during live-stream videos, and Wang had been banned from the app before for similar actions.
“But he circumvented this by opening new accounts, Chinese media reported. His most recent account had more than 44,000 followers,” the outlet said.
According to Breitbart News, the Douyin platform has been used to suppress language and for surveillance.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts to try and kill the Cantonese dialect increased in October when Douyin reportedly began treating it as “unrecognizable,” Breitbart News reported at the time:
Cantonese attracts so much animosity from the central government because it is popular in Hong Kong and the Chinese provinces close to it. Beijing wishes to subdue Hong Kong’s sense of independence and unique culture by pushing the island’s residents to speak Mandarin. Cantonese is also popular among Chinese who have settled abroad since many of them emigrated from the Hong Kong area.
In March, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) said that, according to testimony during a congressional hearing on the Uyghur genocide in China, witnesses say Douyin “is routinely used to basically locate Uyghurs, to surveil them, and then to persecute them.”
He also noted TikTok has previously been used as a way “to spy on American citizens and journalists.”
Watch — Dem Rep. Krishnamoorthi: China’s Version of TikTok “Routinely Used” to Carry out Uyghur Genocide
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