Second influencer dies of ‘drinking challenge’ in China
By Ryan General
June 9, 2023
A Chinese influencer has died from alcohol poisoning after participating in a viral drinking battle that similarly claimed the life of his online streamer friend just a couple of weeks prior.
Deadly drinking game: Zhong Yuan Huang Ge, popularly known as Brother Huang online, succumbed to excessive alcohol consumption after drinking the Chinese alcohol baijiu, beer and other types of liquor during a live video broadcast to his 176,000 followers.
Baijiu is considered highly intoxicating as it typically contains around 35% to 60% alcohol by volume. Drinking large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time can lead to alcohol poisoning and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Second fatality: Huang’s death comes less than a month after his friend, named Wang Moufeng, also died after consuming multiple baijiu bottles during his own livestream.
During Wang’s funeral, Huang was even heard by some friends vowing to reduce his alcohol consumption to avoid a similar fate.
Playing for money: The 27-year-old internet celebrity had been doing stunts online to attract viewers so he could repay a significant amount of debts, his wife, surnamed Li, told a local news outlet on June 2. According to Li. she had repeatedly questioned Huang about his debts, and he responded with a desire to repay them.
Huang and Li had just completed constructing a new house in the village this year and they were saving money to renovate it as soon as their son graduated from kindergarten.
Huang’s final stunts: In his livestreams, Huang usually performs different stunts in between sips of his alcoholic drinks. One of Huang’s videos depicted him igniting a tissue paper soaked in alcohol and then rapidly consuming half a bottle of baijiu before downing a few scallions.
Huang’s account associated with the videos has since been banned following his death.
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