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Booze puts boy, 4, in coma
12/01/2007 07:47 - (SA)
Beijing - A four-year-old Chinese boy whose father was training him to be a "good drinker" spent 10 hours in a coma after downing the notoriously strong Chinese spirit baijiu, state media reported on Thursday.
The boy's father found him unconscious at their home in the central province of Hunan on Monday night after drinking 200 millilitres of the grain-based alcohol, Xinhua news agency reported.
The boy, named Ming Ming, was taken to a hospital with acute alcohol poisoning and fell into a coma until the next morning, hospital director Liu Xiao was quoted as saying.
The boy's father, Yuan Jianxin, said he had been teaching his son to drink to earn respect among his peers.
"My little son can drink two cups of beer or even sometimes one cup of spirit," the construction worker reportedly told a local newspaper.
"I was training him to drink alcohol because people respect someone who can drink a lot. All my friends teach their children to drink."
Chinese law forbids parents providing their children with alcohol, but Yuan has so far escaped punishment, Xinhua said.
Alcohol consumption - often at excessive levels - is an integral part of Chinese dining culture, with baijiu toasts typically degenerating into de facto drinking contests.
Refusal to accept a toast is viewed as a loss of face.
In August, a local court in Zhejiang fined an overly hospitable host 200 000 yuan following the death of a 20-year-old guest who was repeatedly toasted with brandy, Xinhua said.
Doctor Liu said the amount Ming Ming drank would get a grown man drunk, Xinhua reported.
"But he still believes beer cannot make him drunk," he said.
- AFP
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