3 boys slide down handrails of 20m-long escalator in Chinese mall while adults cheer them on

Three boys turned a 20m-long escalator at a Chinese shopping mall into their playground when they repeatedly slid down the handrails last Saturday (Oct 6).

Instead of chiding them for their mischievous acts, two women were filmed cheering them on at the bottom of the escalator in the mall in the south-western city of Chongqing.

It is unclear how they are related.

A video of the scene was posted on Chinese social media platforms over the weekend and has drawn the ire of netizens.

The boys were shown taking turns to slide down the escalator, which is about three storeys high.

Meanwhile, a woman could be heard shouting in Mandarin: "Wow, how awesome!"

She could also be seen in the video filming them with her mobile phone.

Many netizens pointed out that the boys had blatantly ignored a sign on the escalator that said it was under repair and that entry is prohibited.

Several of them also slammed the adults for supporting such dangerous behaviour.

"This parent is being too cavalier about this. I really don't understand what she is thinking," said a user on Chinese micro-blogging platform Weibo.

"The parents are setting a bad example for their children," another user said. "If an accident were to happen, are they going to blame the shopping mall?"

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.