China toy platform sparks outrage over refund policy requiring parents to slap their children

A Chinese toy platform sparked outrage after a seller demanded a mother slap her child for a refund, revealing a culture of performative punishment online.

The sequence of events you’re about to read is off the rails completely.

A daughter, 11, orders a pack of trading cards ($70) on the Chinese shopping app Qiandao. Her disgruntled mother finds out and requests a refund from the multi-billion yuan company. The seller then refuses, citing that she pretended to be a minor in “maliciously cancelling orders.”

What follows next is staggering – the seller demands a five-minute video of the mom slapping the child, the condition being that the sounds of physical contact are clearly audible.

The seller also requested a three-minute scolding video and a 1,000-word apology from the child. When the mother tried to get support from the platform’s customer service department, they were non-committal and suggested that she “negotiate directly” with the seller.

Qiandao is China’s leading platform for second-hand trading for items such as blind box figures, cards, and model figures.

A spokesperson for Henan Zejin Law Firm stated that the interaction was a form of coercion into committing domestic violence.

The shopping platform, however, argues that the “minor refund notice” was issued by the seller and wasn’t its responsibility.

Slapping a child is technically illegal in China, as per the Anti-Domestic Violence Law. Despite this, the cultural norms are rather ambiguous, as traditional Confucian concepts allow strict punishment, and this remains open to interpretation, particularly in more rural areas.

Performative shaming is a common practice in Chinese culture, particularly in schools, and occasionally crosses over into social media and even customer service.

Without strict policing, online users are often left to resolve disputes among themselves as maintaining face remains top priority. Emotional displays and public belittlement are often more common with streamers selling things from platforms like Alibaba-owned platform Taobao and Bytedance’s Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok).

And as is typical with social media platforms, users in this case squabbled among themselves, with a view to taking the moral high ground.

“I actually support it. The kid secretly used their parents’ money to make a purchase, violated the sales rules, and now demands a refund? Why should the seller take all the blame?” defended one user.

Another disagreed and vented: “Maybe the seller should slap themselves awake before doing business.”

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