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The tragedy of a Chinese toddler who choked to death on the tapioca bubbles in his milk tea has sparked heated online discussion about parental responsibility. On October 24, the three-year-old’s father, surnamed Li, posted a surveillance video of a playground in a shopping centre in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. In the clip, the boy takes a sip of the bubble tea his mother bought him before playing on a trampoline on October 19. Li said his son passed out a minute later and despite his mother’s attempts, she was unable to revive him. The boy was rushed to the hospital in his parents’ car but emergency treatment failed to save him. The cause of his death was the tapioca bubbles in the tea. The bubbles were about 10 mm in size, too big for a toddler’s airways once they are swallowed down the wrong pipe. Also, tapioca is too sticky for the mother’s Heimlich manoeuvre to work. Li posted the video online to ask the milk tea shop and the shopping centre to take responsibility for his son’s death. He claimed that shop staff failed to post a clear sign in the shop or give them verbal reminders that tapioca bubbles are not suitable for small children. He also said staff did not tell them to not bring food or drinks into the playground and failed to offer first aid. The milk tea shop, which belongs to a national chain, states on its online ordering page that “the bubble tea product is not suitable for children under three”. The dispute is now the subject of mediation. However, on social media, most people said the parents should be held responsible for the tragedy. “The parents are the ones who bought bubble tea for their toddler, and the ones who let him play on the trampoline while drinking it,” said one person. “It is common sense that kids cannot eat tapioca bubbles, or jelly and sticky rice. They also cannot eat or drink while playing,” said another. “Parents are the first responsible people for their children,” a third said. Bubble tea first appeared in Taiwan, and then went viral in Hong Kong and mainland China. In 2018 and 2019, the drink took Japan by storm. The word used to refer to bubble tea in Japan, tapioca, even became a popular word in the country. Health experts say tapioca bubbles should be consumed slowly, as they are hard to digest, might get stuck in the throat and cause choking, even for adults.
