Hunan officials probe choking game incident

A recent incident in which a boy was injured while participating in a dangerous, euphoria-inducing choking game in a Chinese school has drawn public attention.

After playing the game, a middle school student in Yiyang, Hunan province, fainted, fell down and broke out into a cold sweat.

According to the boy's mother, who identified herself by her surname, Dong, her son continued to experience headaches and nausea two days after the incident, which led her to take him to the hospital. There, he underwent a CT scan of his brain, which showed no serious problems.

The Yiyang education bureau said it had initiated an investigation into the choking game in the city and made plans to better promote life safety education.

The game usually involves a player leaning against a wall, taking a deep breath and then holding it in while another person presses on the player's chest, leading the player to enter a state of suffocation and hypoxia in a very short amount of time, according to players' descriptions of the game posted on the internet.

Some netizens say the experience led them to see scenes from their childhood, "fantastic" scenery or even a "past life". Some describe their experience as a "long dream" or a "blackout".

Gao Lu, chief cardiologist at Nankai Hospital in Tianjin, said that using external force to compress the heart and inhibit breathing can cause brain ischemia and hypoxia, leading to suffocation in a short time.

In mild cases, participants may feel dizziness, nausea and weakness in their limbs. In severe cases, people can lose consciousness or hallucinate and all organ functions can stop, endangering the lives of the players, Gao said.

The choking game is known by multiple names, including "Death in Three Seconds", the "Game of Death" or, as it was referred to in the latest incident, "Dream Back to the Tang Dynasty".

In 2004, the Ministry of Education said the "Game of Death "could easily damage the physical and mental health of teenagers and urged students to abandon the activity.

According to media reports, the game has led to harmful incidents in regions such as provinces of Hunan, Hebei and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Similar games are also played in countries and regions such as Southeast Asia, the United States and Europe. Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that at least 82 children between the ages of 6 and 19 died after playing the "Pass-Out Game" between 1995 and 2007.

Xiong Bingqi, director of China's 21st Century Education Research Institute, said netizens often discuss the game on social media and called on online platforms and authorities to strengthen oversight over the dissemination of harmful information.

Xiong said parents and schools should help students gain a correct understanding of the preciousness of life.

"School campuses, families and even society should provide activities that are beneficial to physical and mental health, meet students' recreational and social needs, and help relieve their mental pressures."

XINHUA