When we were young, our parents probably told us that when eating fish, we have to be careful not to swallow any bones.
On August 18, Chinese singer Zhang Jie was rushed to the hospital during the wee hours after swallowing a fish bone. The 38-year-old star who is married to Chinese host Xie Na later posted a photo of the bone which looks to be around 2cm long, that was extracted from his throat.
“This fish bone got stuck in my esophagus and it almost reached my stomach (…) Fish is the food that I love the most, but now I have a fear of eating it… Everyone, please be careful when eating fish!” Zhang Jie cautioned his followers.
According to 8days.sg, his fans were relieved to hear that Zhang Jie is alright but some netizens chose to tease the singer instead. One such netizen wrote: “You’re almost 40, but you didn’t realise that you had such a huge bone in your food. Do you even know how to chew?”
There were misguided netizens who claimed that Zhang Jie could have used other methods, such as drinking vinegar or swallowing steamed buns to get rid of the bone. But their suggestions were shot down by more rational netizens.
“Drinking vinegar to soften fish bones doesn’t work, because the softening only takes place if you soak the bone for a prolonged period,” clarified one netizen. Another netizen warned everyone about the risk of swallowing steamed buns or balls of rice. “It might cause more harm as the bones could get more deeply lodged and aggravate the situation. Don’t do that.”
The lesson learned is to go directly to the hospital when you swallow a bone.
Born on December 20, 1982 in Chengdu, Sichuan, Zhang Jie, also known as Jason Zhang, is a Chinese pop singer. He made his television series debut in the reality singing competition My Show in 2004, which he won.
By the end of May 2017, Zhang had recorded 12 albums and held 34 concerts. He has won the Most Popular Male Singer Award 33 times and Best Male Singer 12 times./TISG