BEIJING, Jan. 12 -- A four-year-old boy from central China's Hunan Province, who has been trained by his father to drink alcohol, lost consciousness for 10 hours after drinking 200 milliliters of the strong Chinese spirit baijiu, or white liquor.

    Ming Ming's father found the boy unconscious at home on Monday night and took him to the provincial children's hospital.

    "He was suffering from acute alcohol poisoning and did not wake up until nine o'clock the next morning," said hospital Director Liu Xiao.

    It later emerged the child's father, 32-year-old Yuan Jianxin, had spent the last year training his son to be a "good drinker." Yuan even appeared to be boasting to the local press about his son's ability to handle alcohol as Ming Ming recovered in the hospital bed.

    "My little son can drink two cups of beer or even sometimes one cup of spirit," Yuan, a construction worker in Beishan town, Changsha County, told the local newspaper.

    Parents are legally responsible for ensuring their children do not drink alcohol, but Yuan has so far escaped punishment.

    "I was training him to drink alcohol because people respect someone who has the ability to drink a lot. All my friends teach their children to drink alcohol. It is simply habit or tradition to teach a young boy to drink as people believe drinking is manly."