Updated

A 3-year-old girl in China has become mysteriously addicted to smoking and drinking after a car accident.

Ya Wen lives in a shelter with her parents who collect and sell rubbish for money. Her mother Gao explained the little girl was knocked down by a speeding van last year and suffered a serious head injury.

She was rushed to hospital where doctors managed to stabilize her. She woke up a week later and recovered fully after a couple of months - but her mother soon found her secretly smoking cigarettes. She was also caught stealing packs of her father's cigarettes - as well as putting them on their local shop tab.

Gao said her daughter has now been addicted to smoking for a year and has also taken a liking to drinking and changed her preference in clothes.

"She only likes boy's clothes. If we don't buy them for her, she cries in protest," Gao said.

She also likes drinking.

"Three glasses of beer is no problem to her," she said.

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