An eight-year-old boy from eastern China has unintentionally caused significant financial loss to his family after cutting his mother’s gold necklace into small pieces and gifting them to his friends. The child, who reportedly did not understand the value of gold, offered the pieces as tokens of friendship — a gesture that his parents only discovered a month later.
Parents discover the costly “gifts”
The incident came to light when the boy’s sister heard a classmate mention receiving gold from him. According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the mother — surnamed Sun — confronted her son, who admitted he had distributed pieces of the necklace to several friends.
Only a small fragment of the necklace was recovered, and the family has been unable to trace the rest. The boy said he could not remember which friends he had gifted the pieces to, nor did he recall where he had placed the remaining bits.
The father punished the child by beating him — a reaction that later drew criticism from legal experts.
What really happened?
Surveillance footage reviewed by the parents shows the boy opening a drawer, retrieving the gold necklace — a marriage souvenir gifted by his father — and attempting to cut it into smaller pieces. When using pliers and a lighter did not work, he reportedly began biting the chain to divide it.
The mother said she felt both anger and amusement at the unexpected situation. “Maybe you think it is a funny fabricated tale, but it is true,” she later posted on social media.
Social media reactions and legal concerns
The story has drawn widespread attention online. One user joked, “If he gave it to girls, you had better not pursue it — one of them may be your future daughter-in-law.” Another wrote, “He must be educated seriously. Otherwise, he may sell your house one day.”
A lawyer told SCMP that the father’s physical punishment violates China’s Juvenile Protection Law, emphasising that guardians must correct children’s behaviour through non-violent means.