Chinese eating-stream influencer Chen Ziyi, known online as Yingying, died aged 24 on 17 August, three days after telling followers from a hospital bed that she had dangerously low potassium levels.
In her final video, Yingying said repeated bouts of eating large quantities of food for livestream sales, along with long-term self-induced vomiting, had contributed to her condition. Her parents announced her death on social media on 4 September.
Yingying had more than one million followers and broadcast mainly on the Chinese short-video platform Kuaishou, while also maintaining an account on Douyin. Chinese outlet The Paper, citing a person familiar with the case, reported that cardiac arrest linked to low potassium was suspected.
In her final video, posted on 14 August from a hospital bed, Yingying said her blood potassium had fallen to 2.3 mmol/L and that she had been admitted to hospital. Normal blood potassium levels are generally between 3.5 and 5.5 mmol/L.
She said repeated episodes of consuming large quantities of food during livestream sales had contributed to her condition. She also said she had long induced vomiting.
“Although making money is important, health should always come first”
she told followers.
Yingying said livestream sales placed heavy demands on her body. In one broadcast selling century eggs, she said she had eaten 60 to 70 eggs. She said eating-stream creators often faced pressure to consume increasingly large quantities of food to improve livestream performance and sales, even when their bodies could not withstand it.
Dr Cai Qichen, a general medicine doctor at Zhejiang Hospital, told Chinese media that eating large quantities of food alone does not directly cause severe potassium loss. He said the greater risks come from inducing vomiting and using laxatives, practices reportedly used by some creators seeking to maintain their weight while continuing to eat large amounts on camera.
Potassium levels in gastric and intestinal fluids are higher than in blood, Dr Cai said. Repeated vomiting or diarrhoea can therefore cause significant potassium loss and progressively lower blood potassium levels.
Severely low potassium, known as hypokalaemia, can affect heart rhythm and may become life-threatening. However, the medical explanation does not establish Yingying’s precise cause of death.
Mukbang, a format popularised in South Korea, typically features creators eating while livestreaming or recording videos. Some creators build audiences around consuming unusually large quantities of food, often alongside product promotions and livestream sales.
The Paper referenced several previous cases:
- Paopao Long (泡泡龙), a 29-year-old eating-stream creator who reportedly died of heart failure after his weight reached about 160kg.
- Wenwei Ge (闻味哥), who reportedly continued intensive eating streams while receiving dialysis for end-stage kidney disease.
- Sanqian Ge (三千哥), an alcohol-stream creator who reportedly died after drinking four bottles of baijiu during a livestream challenge.
Chinese laws try to push back
China has introduced regulations aimed at curbing extreme eating content. Its Anti-Food Waste Law, adopted in 2021, prohibits producing, publishing or sharing audio and video content that clearly promotes excessive eating or binge eating.
Guidelines for online livestreamers introduced in 2022 also prohibit staged eating, inducing vomiting and eating abnormally large quantities of food during broadcasts.The regulations remain part of China’s Qinglang, or “Clean and Bright”, campaign to regulate online content.
But The Paper argued that some creators have continued to evade enforcement by presenting large meals as product tastings, streaming late at night, or adding disclaimers that food was not consumed by one person.
The outlet called for platforms to go beyond removing individual videos or suspending accounts, urging them to change recommendation algorithms and cut commercial incentives for dangerous eating content.
Yingying’s death has renewed discussion in China about the pressure behind extreme mukbang content, where attention, advertising and livestream sales can reward creators for ever more dangerous performances. As The Paper put it:
“This is no longer mukbang earning traffic. It is traffic Devouring people.”
Sources: The Paper’s report on Yingying; The Paper commentary on extreme eating streams.
The Paper is a Shanghai-based Chinese digital news outlet operated by the state-owned Shanghai United Media Group. It is widely read and known for reporting on social issues. We have attributed its reporting accordingly and have not independently verified all claims in this report.