Parents ordered to pay Rs 2.6 crore after drunk Chinese teenagers urinate in soup
The shocking footage showed the drunk 17-year-olds standing on a table and urinating into the broth while dining in a private room at a Shanghai outlet of Haidilao, China’s largest hotpot chain.
New Delhi,September 16, 2025 11:06 PM IST
First published on: Sep 16, 2025 at 11:02 PM IST
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Customers have their lunch inside a restaurant in Shanghai, China (REUTERS)
A Chinese court has ordered the parents of two teenagers who filmed themselves urinating into a pot of broth at a hotpot restaurant to pay 2.2 million yuan (Rs 2.6 crore) in compensation after the video sparked national outrage.
The shocking footage showed the drunk 17-year-olds standing on a table and urinating into the broth while dining in a private room at a Shanghai outlet of Haidilao, China’s largest hotpot chain. The incident occurred on 24 February but only came to the company’s attention four days later. Although no diners were found to have consumed the contaminated broth, the video triggered widespread disgust and damaged the restaurant’s reputation.
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Haidilao offered compensation to more than 4,000 customers as a precaution and reported the matter to police in Jianyang, Sichuan, where the chain is headquartered. The teenagers were subsequently arrested. In March, the company filed a civil lawsuit demanding a public apology and 23 million yuan (₹27 crore) in damages.
This week, the Huangpu District People’s Court of Shanghai ruled that the teenagers had “deliberately infringed upon property rights and damaged reputation through acts of insult.” The court noted that their actions polluted the dining environment, caused strong public discomfort, and harmed the company’s standing.
The parents were found to have “failed to fulfil their duty of guardianship” and were ordered to pay 2 million yuan (₹2.4 crore) for reputational and business damage, 130,000 yuan (₹15.4 lakh) for tableware losses and cleaning, and 70,000 yuan (₹8.3 lakh) in legal fees. The teenagers and their parents were also directed to issue public apologies in designated newspapers, with privacy protections in place due to the minors’ age.
The court acknowledged Haidilao’s decision to refund all dine-in customers after the incident as “reasonable compensation” but stressed that this was a voluntary choice by the company and should not be included in damages.
Founded in Sichuan in 1994, Haidilao has grown into one of the world’s most popular Chinese restaurant brands, with 1,360 outlets in China and over 1,400 globally, including in the US, UK, Singapore, Australia and Canada.
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Customers have their lunch inside a restaurant in Shanghai, China (REUTERS) 
