Exam paper admitted as evidence in court case

A copy of the national college entrance exam was admitted as evidence in a liability case concerning liqueur in Ningxia Hui autonomous region late last year, according to People's Daily.

The dispute began with a person surnamed Liu buying 16 bottles of liqueur online in 2021. Produced by a wine company in Ningxia, the liqueur only had grapes and sulfur dioxide labeled as ingredients.

Liu suspected the wine company was withholding information about the ingredients, since liqueur usually is a sweetened alcoholic beverage with various flavors, potentially with rum, whisky or other liquor added as a base spirit.

The alcohol content of the liqueur he bought was labeled as 18 percent, but a question on the test indicates the highest alcohol content of wine brewed in natural conditions would be 16.2 percent.

Liu then sued the company for breaching the Food Safety Law, which stipulates food ingredients should be clearly labeled. He demanded a refund of the 9,300 yuan ($1,305) he spent on the liqueur and compensation of 93,000 yuan.

Last year, a people's court in Yongning county ruled that the liqueur didn't label all the ingredients, but the exclusion didn't make the liqueur unsafe or mislead the consumer. It also found the liqueur didn't cause any harm to the plaintiff's well-being or property, rejecting Liu's claims.

According to lawyer Zheng Xudong from the Jiangsu Fides Law Firm, as long as it is authentic, legal and relevant to the case, the test paper can be admitted as evidence.