Girl, 3, smokes and drinks after accident

The parents of a three-year-old girl say she has been smoking and drinking like an adult ever since she was in a road accident.

Ya Wen lives in a shelter with her parents who collect and sell garbage for money in Huizhou in southern China's Fujian province.

Her mother, Gao, says Ya Wen is now addicted to cigarettes and will also down glasses of beer whenever she gets the chance.

Gao said her daughter's personality changed when she was knocked down by a speeding van last year, reports the Yangcheng Evening Post.

"The first time I found her smoking was in the toilet," said Gao. "Before that I often saw cigarette butts in the toilet but thought they were my husband's until I saw my daughter smoking there."

The family had tried to stop her smoking but she kept stealing them from her husband and buying them on credit from a neighbouring store.

The store owner confirmed that Ya Wen often came over and took one or two packs away: "We didn't ask, thinking she was buying for her father," he explained.

Ya Wen's father has now stopped smoking to set a better example for his daughter and the family have moved to the other side of the city.

But Gao said the little girl still cried for cigarettes whenever she saw them: "She also likes drinking. Three glasses of beer is no problem to her," she added.

Doctors in Huizhou Central People's Hospital believe head injuries suffered by Ya Wen in her accident may be to blame for her actions.

"Another possibility is that she is just imitating adults," added one doctor.