Eating sneakily in classrooms has long been a light-hearted habit among students. Many people have enjoyed quick bites of snacks hidden from teachers during lectures. Building on this playful idea, a shopping mall in China introduced a structured sneak-eating challenge. A shopping mall in Ningbo, China, hosted the city’s first-ever ‘Steal A Bite of Paofan’ contest. A simulated classroom was set up in the mall atrium, where each participant got a bowl of Ningbo-style Paofan, rice in soup. The goal was to finish the bowl before the class bell rang, without being spotted eating by the “teachers” running the fake lesson.
Getting caught meant a 30-second penalty standing still with no eating. Three penalties and you were out. Each batch was given 10 minutes to complete the task, and the competition ran hourly from 12 pm to 9 pm. The quickest finisher from every round moved to the finals for a shot at the title.
Watch the challenge below:
宁波首届偷吃泡饭大赛，谁想出来的？😅😅
确定这是比赛，不是重演上学时上课偷吃零食的自己 pic.twitter.com/Gdt8UjkNvy— Feiyan Xie (@FeiyanXie) May 19, 2026
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According to The Straits Times, more than 2,000 people participated in the contest, among whom a man in his 30s was declared the winner of the championship. He won a one-gram golden rice grain valued at around 1,400 yuan (about Rs 20,000).
In a Xiaohongshu post, the winner said he hadn’t planned to join, and he was just at the mall to buy diapers for his baby. Jiupai News reported that organisers created the event to tap into the nostalgia of sneaking snacks in class while pretending to pay attention.
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Many participants, who had graduated over a decade ago, said they entered to recapture the thrill of eating “illegally” during lessons. Organisers noted that elementary school students did surprisingly well. Most of them were performing at a level “comparable to professional players”, and none of them got caught. The competition was free to enter. All the costs were covered by the mall.
