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‘Kid is chef material’: video of boy in China expertly deboning fish at restaurant wins praise, prompts debate on proper childhood

  • The 8-year-old boy is seen in the viral video efficiently preparing the fish for cooking as a crowd of impressed onlookers watch
  • According to the boy’s mother and the man who shot the video, he is largely self-taught at cleaning and preparing fish

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A boy filmed expertly cleaning fish has attracted praise for his skill online, but some have questioned if it is safe for a small child to handle knives. Photo: Douyin
Yingjie Wang

A cute video of an eight-year-old boy in China expertly deboning and cleaning fish to help his father sell midnight snacks has gone viral on mainland social media.

The video from Monday showed the boy killing and cleaning fish for his father at a barbecue restaurant in Zhaotong, Yunnan province in southwestern China.

In the clip, the child, stooping down with his knees slightly bent, skilfully descaled and deboned the fish on a chopping board resting on a tin bucket.

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After cutting the fish several times, he stood the knife on the chopping block and removed the cut-resistant glove from his left hand. He then hooked the fish’s gills with his fingers and rinsed the blood off its body in a nearby sink.

The boy’s mother says she and her husband had not trained their son, who had learned how to clean fish by watching them work. Photo: Douyin
The boy’s mother says she and her husband had not trained their son, who had learned how to clean fish by watching them work. Photo: Douyin

The entire procedure went quickly and smoothly. Despite cheers and applause from onlookers, the boy remained calm and focused on his task.

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