China’s hardcore drinking culture claimed another victim over the weekend, a 28-year-old bridesmaid who had a few too many at a friend’s wedding.
Four separate video clips have gone viral online showing what happened to the woman. The first shows a 28-year-old woman in a black dress knocking back a cup of liquor with a male friend at a wedding banquet in Wenchang city, Hainan province, with fellow revelers cheering her on. The second clip shows the woman apparently passed out, supported by her smiling fellow wedding-goers. The next clip shows the woman being wheeled away on a hotel baggage trolley. The final video shows the woman in the hospital with doctors fighting to save her life.
Watch the clips combined into one tragic video below:
Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the medical staff, the woman died, choking on her own vomit. According to online reports, one lawyer said that all the other revelers who encouraged the woman to drink bear some responsibility for her death. Meanwhile, netizens are divided on the question of who is to blame for the woman’s premature death, with some writing in that the woman is an adult and should know her own limits.
Of course, death caused by excessive drinking isn’t an uncommon occurrence in China, where the ability to out-drink peers and colleagues is seen as a marketable skill. In 2014, one government official in Guangxi died of alcohol poisoning after drinking too much during a lunch with colleagues on his first day of work.
Many of these deaths from binge drinking have been blamed on China’s infamous baijiu, a type of strong distilled Chinese liquor made from grain, generally with an alcohol content from 40% to 60%. Along with greasing the wheels of business deals across China, it is also the beverage of choice for Brazilian drivers, irresponsible officials and emotional kidnappers. Plus, it’s a chemical weapon.
[Images via Weibo]