8-Year-Old Boy Cuts Up Mother's Gold Necklace to Share with Friends, Sparking Corporal Punishment Controversy

Gave Away Pieces of a Necklace Worth Nearly 2 Million Won
Debate Grows Over Child Discipline and Protection

In Shandong Province, China, it was belatedly revealed that an elementary school student broke his mother's gold necklace into small pieces and gave them as "gifts" to his friends, sparking widespread attention. The bizarre incident was recently made public on social media, igniting a local debate over education and discipline.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that an 8-year-old boy living in Zaozhuang City secretly took his mother's gold necklace from a drawer at home about a month ago, broke it into pieces, and distributed them to classmates. The boy's mother, Ms. Sun, only realized what had happened after hearing from her daughter that one of her son's friends had received a piece of gold.

An elementary school student in Shandong Province, China, made headlines after breaking their mother's gold necklace into small pieces and giving them as gifts to friends (photo for illustrative purposes only, unrelated to the article). Pixabay

After checking the home CCTV footage, the parents discovered that the boy had taken the approximately 8-gram necklace, a wedding gift from his father, and tried to melt it with a lighter or cut it with pliers. When that failed, he ended up biting it into several pieces, all of which was captured on video. The boy could not even remember exactly how many people he had given the pieces to, nor could he explain where the remaining pieces were. The parents were only able to recover a very small portion of the necklace.

In China, where gold is traded at about 1,200 yuan (approximately 250,000 won) per gram, the necklace is estimated to be worth nearly 2 million won at current market prices. When Ms. Sun asked her son if he knew how expensive gold was, he reportedly replied, "I don't know." The controversy grew even further after it was revealed that the boy's father, enraged by the incident, physically punished his son.

Local legal experts pointed out that while children over the age of eight are classified as having limited civil capacity, excessive corporal punishment for actions beyond their understanding may constitute a violation of the Minor Protection Act. Online, opinions were divided, with some saying, "Children need proper financial education," and others arguing, "The child's actions are problematic, but corporal punishment is an even bigger issue." Some users expressed concern, saying, "If you don't teach him now, he might end up selling the house in the future."