Police Filed No Case After a Street Vendor Died Over 'Avoid This' Reviews
A 33-year-old street vendor in Yibin, Sichuan, died by suicide after a customer posted 'avoid this' reviews against her stall. Police declined to file a case, and her family will sue the reviewer.
Hu Ermei sold fried skewers and copper-pot potatoes from a stall under a metal canopy in Qingfu Town, in China's southwestern Sichuan Province. Her name was on the sign — 胡二妹 — above the menu. On 6 October, a customer unhappy with the portion she received posted what Chinese social media calls a "bilei" post — literally an "avoid the landmine" warning, the review format that tells other users to stay away from a shop or a seller. On 9 October, she died by suicide. She was 33.
The reviews were not gentle. Screenshots circulated on Chinese social media show the customer's framing — the boss lady, it says, is a bad loser, and if she thinks the vegetable pile is too high she won't add potatoes — alongside the customer's own comment, "I even took the photo half-squatting," and a second user's reply, "I bought it once and there was a bad attitude the whole time, never bought again." Other comments piled on. Hu's sister told reporters a month later that the family had waited more than a month for a response from the authorities: "We only want to get back some justice for my sister." Hu's husband, Yu, has stopped going out to the stall — "I'll wait until things are handled and there's a result," he said — and is now raising two children alone.
The case has moved through the system in a way that has become the story's point. The local government in Qingfu Town said police were investigating. On 12 November, the family received a notice: no case filed. Her family says they will sue the reviewer directly. In a Zhihu question that has drawn wide attention, the legal framing is the discussion: whether a review that is a warning, a review that is a lie, or a review that is a pile-on can be an actionable wrong — and whether a death after reviews can be an actionable wrong at all.
The "avoid" post has become part of Chinese consumer life, and the format is the same one that has made the site's indirect negative review meme a running joke: the review is a warning, and the warning is a weapon. The week's other story is the mirror image — a rumor that roasted sweet potatoes were treated with artificial flavoring, which a reporter's investigation found was a rumor. Both stories run on the same fuel: the post is public, the shop is real, and the post is a weapon the shop owner cannot answer.