A picture of a birthday cake has recently gone viral on Chinese social media. Differing from an ordinary birthday cake, which would typically come with a “Happy Birthday” message written in icing, this cake came with the message “14 is the age when one turns criminally liable”.

　　一张生日蛋糕照最近在社交媒体上走红。与普通的生日蛋糕上用糖霜写下的“生日快乐”不同，这块蛋糕上写的是“14岁要负刑事责任了”。

　　The birthday cake was designed by the son of a policewoman in Ma’anshan, eastern China’s Anhui province, who turned 14 on Nov. 30.

　　11月30日，中国东部安徽省马鞍山市一名女警察的儿子过14岁生日，他自己设计了这个生日蛋糕。

　　Police officer Yan Chengyan told Beijing Youth Daily that both she and her husband work for the police department. They often teach their son about common law, and he’s inherited a love of the subject.

　　严成艳(音)警官告诉《北京青年报》，她和丈夫都在警察局工作。他们经常对儿子进行普法教育，他对这个职业充满了兴趣。

　　Yan said she had previously told her son about criminal liability, so he knew that the age of 14 was significant. Therefore, he asked for “14 is the age when one turns criminally liable” to be iced onto his cake, alongside the Black Cat Detective, a famous Chinese cartoon figure.

　　严警官说，她之前跟儿子讲过刑事责任，所以他知道14岁以后就要负刑事责任了。因此，他要求把这些字写在生日蛋糕上，并配上中国著名的卡通形象黑猫警长的造型。

　　“Personally, we were not that surprised when he came up with the idea, but it did surprise the cake maker,” Yan said.

　　严说，“对我们来说，他的这个主意我们并不惊讶，但着实让做蛋糕的人吃了一惊。”

　　She told Beijing Youth Daily that her son loves to read police-related magazines, and hopes to become a lawyer or policeman when he’s older.

　　她告诉《北京青年报》，她的儿子喜欢阅读与警察有关的杂志，希望长大后成为一名律师或警察。