‘I Was Fooled’: Influencer Apologizes For Cooking and Eating a Great White Shark

Stingray, ostrich, crocodile—there was nothing Tizi dared not eat. The Chinese food blogger drew more than 7 million followers with videos of herself preparing and consuming exotic food, a niche genre that has grown increasingly popular on Chinese social media in recent years.

But the influencer, surnamed Jin, bit off more than she could chew last year when the “edible” shark she bought and ate turned out to be a species protected under China’s wildlife laws. Authorities investigated and fined Jin $18,500 in January. Now, seven months after the forbidden feast, Jin is back online—this time with an apology. 

In new posts uploaded to video-sharing platforms Kuaishou and Douyin earlier this month, the influencer said she had been tricked by the online seafood seller, who insisted it was not a protected species and claimed he sold many of them every day. She said trusted the seller as she had purchased from him before. 

“Some species of sharks could be eaten legally and that was what I assumed when I filmed the video,” said Jin, who is based in the southwest province of Sichuan. “I was truly fooled.”

Besides endangered or protected species, the sale and consumption of sharks is legal in China, where shark fin soup remains a traditional delicacy. Demand may have plunged in recent years, but the appetite continues to fuel an illegal trade, where fins of endangered species are passed off as legal ones.

In the four-minute video posted in July, she showed off the human-size shark she bought on the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao for 7,700 yuan ($1,120). With the help of her family and neighbors, she chopped it into two pieces and cooked them in different ways: One half was boiled in chili and beer, and the second half was marinated and grilled over a fire. In the final scenes, she raved about how delicious it tasted. 

The video, which went viral immediately, caused public outrage. Some sharp-eyed social media users identified the shark as a second-class protected animal in China, prompting authorities to investigate. Two people who caught and sold the shark were also detained. 

DNA barcoding—a method of species identification—on the remains of the shark later confirmed the animal as a protected species. The case was passed to the Sichuan Nanchong Market Supervision Administration, which slapped Jin with a hefty fine of 125,000 yuan ($18,500) in late January. Her popular social media accounts on Kuaishou and Douyin were also suspended until earlier this year.

In the new post, she included documents from the Nanchong Public Security Bureau saying they wouldn’t file a case against her over the incident. The bureau also confirmed that to local outlet Hongxing News.

Many Chinese social media users, however, considered the punishment too lenient. “If there isn’t enough deterrence, people will continue to imitate,” read a top comment to a Weibo post about her apology. In 2021, another Chinese food blogger was detained by authorities for steaming and eating a Triton’s trumpet, a large sea snail that is classified as a protected species in the country.

China banned the trade and consumption of wildlife in 2020, after the pandemic prompted concern about the spread of zoonotic diseases. That ban, however, covers only terrestrial animals.

In her latest post, Jin said she owed everyone an apology. She said she frequently visited libraries and aquariums to study marine life during her hiatus. 

“I would like to make up for my shortcomings because as someone who shoots videos, I should be spreading correct information,” Jin said. Filming from an aquarium in the city of Chengdu, she also introduced various protected marine species, including endangered sea turtles, penguins, and Chinese sturgeons.

“I reflected on my own mistakes and will keep learning new knowledge about marine life,” she said. 

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