JILIN, CHINA — A couple in China have been lambasted online for upsetting their daughter with a “surprise gift” that turned out to be nothing more than an assessment book.

In a video that has gone viral in China, the unnamed girl from Jilin province is seen smiling as she eagerly unwraps a box placed before her in the living room of the family’s home. 

The mother can be heard asking the girl in the video: “Are you happy?”

The daughter replies: “Yes, I am.”

The mother then tells the young girl that the item is a present from her father, to whom she says: “Thank you, dad”.

However, the expression on the girl’s face quickly turns from excitement to confusion when she discovers a yellow assessment book inside the box.

“What is this? Why did he buy me an assessment book?” she asks while flipping through the pages of the book.

Seeing her daughter’s reaction, the mother bursts into laughter and reminds the girl that the book is a gift.

“Is it a gift?” the daughter asks incredulously, before rolling up the book and throwing it at her mother.

Hoping to find something else in the box, the girl turns it over to see if she had missed anything inside. Tears begin rolling down her face once she realises that she has been tricked and that there is nothing but shreds of paper and a piece of foam left.

The mother can be heard laughing as her daughter walks away calmly.

A shortened version of the video by Douyin user “Light and Shadow China” has attracted more than 39,000 likes and 3,200 comments since it was posted on March 21.

Social media users in China have chastised the couple for the “cruel” and “insensitive” prank, accusing them of crushing their daughter’s hopes after promising her a gift.

One Douyin user commented: “She shed tears of grievance. How can the father do that to his adorable daughter?”

Another person said: “Really? The mother was laughing out loud?”

Someone else wrote: “I give gifts to children to make them happy. If you can’t make them happy, then don’t give anything to them.”

A number of social media users warned the couple that their daughter might exact revenge by returning the prank in the future.

One wrote: “Forty years later, the elderly father will tremble as he opens his birthday present, which turns out to be an urn.”

Parents pranking their children and posting the videos on social media for the entertainment of others has been a point of contention for many online users.

In August last year, Singaporean influencer Naomi Neo received fierce backlash from the online community after she posted a video of a TikTok ghost prank she played on her four-year-old son.

The young boy appeared to be so frightened by the "ghost" in the video that he began to scream, cry and jump. 

Many comments criticised Ms Neo for pulling the "traumatising" prank on him.