The two 17-year-olds have been told to pay massive damages and issue a public apology
Two teenagers have faced a judge in China after a shocking video showed them urinating into a restaurant hotpot, an act that quickly went viral and sparked national outrage.
The incident, which took place earlier this year, left the restaurant overwhelmed with complaints once the disturbing clip spread across social media. The two 17-year-olds, who filmed themselves carrying out the prank, were taken to court and have now been ordered to pay heavy damages and deliver a formal apology.
According to state-run media, the ruling doesn’t just fall on the teenagers. Their parents have also been deemed legally responsible for the stunt. The boys, identified only by their surnames Wu and Tang, were accused of relieving themselves directly into the steaming broth of a hotpot while dining in a private room at a Haidilao branch in Shanghai.
CCTV News reported that one of the boys even uploaded the video online, where it spread rapidly and fueled widespread disgust.
The court ruled that the pair acted while being “fully aware” of the consequences, stressing that their behavior had the potential to cause severe damage to the restaurant’s reputation. The viral footage showed the teenagers climbing onto a table, standing above the boiling pot, and urinating into it.
After the video surfaced, Haidilao issued an immediate apology, writing: “In the early hours of February 24, two men urinated into a hotpot after dining in a private room at a Haidilao branch on the Bund in Shanghai.”
The chain admitted that its staff had not been trained for such a situation and therefore failed to spot the act in real time: “As management had never made contingency plans or given training for dealing with this type of incident, staff at our branch were unable to detect any abnormalities at the scene or uphold the safety of the dining environment.”
To calm customer concerns, Haidilao announced that all utensils at the branch were destroyed and replaced. The company also refunded over 4,000 orders from diners who had visited between February 24 and March 8, while offering compensation ten times the amount of each original bill.
But the financial fallout didn’t end there. Two catering companies connected to Haidilao filed a lawsuit in March against Wu, Tang, and their parents, demanding an official apology as well as more than 2.2 million yuan (around $309,000 USD) in damages.
In court, judges ruled that the refunds issued were reasonable, but the decision to provide tenfold compensation was described as a “voluntary business decision” by Haidilao rather than a legal obligation. CCTV News reported that the court also instructed the teenagers and their parents to issue written apologies in designated newspapers.
The ruling further reinforced that the parents would have to shoulder the damages, highlighting the legal consequences guardians can face if they fail to supervise their children.
An editorial by China Comment, a magazine tied to the ruling Communist Party, underscored the wider message of the case: parents risk “heavy penalties” if they neglect their responsibilities. The piece went on to stress: “This behavior can no longer be dismissed as a simple prank.”
The editorial condemned the teens’ actions as an “extreme disregard for others’ rights” and a “blatant challenge to social norms.”
