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According to the owner’s cousin, quoted by Jiupai News on May 8, the man died on May 5 after the dispute went viral on social media.

The family said he had underlying health problems, including a previous brain hemorrhage, and that his mental condition deteriorated rapidly after the incident.

The owner is survived by his wife and two young children.

His family said the restaurant received a large number of threatening and harassing phone calls after the controversy erupted online. The restaurant has since shut down and reportedly has no plans to reopen because of public pressure, Chinese news site Theirs reported.

The dispute began on the evening of May 4, when a female tourist and her friends dined at a seafood restaurant in Haitang District of Sanya. Their bill totaled 1,815 yuan (US$267), including 1,035.7 yuan for four Thai mantis shrimp weighing 0.685 kilograms.

According to the receipt, the seafood was priced at 1,512 yuan per kilogram. The tourist later posted the bill on social media, accusing the restaurant of overcharging and alleging possible collusion between the restaurant and a taxi driver who brought them there.

She also filed a complaint through China’s public service hotline.

Photos of the receipt spread rapidly on Chinese social media platform Weibo, where many users criticized the pricing and said they had never encountered such expensive seafood prices in Sanya.

On May 5, local authorities launched an investigation.

Authorities announced on May 7 that the restaurant had not violated pricing regulations. Investigators said the mantis shrimp had been imported from Thailand at a cost of about 960 yuan per kg, while the restaurant sold them at 1,512 yuan per kg.

Officials said Sanya imposes strict pricing controls on seafood restaurants. For seafood products with import costs above 300 yuan/kg, the maximum permitted markup is 60%. Authorities calculated the restaurant’s markup in this case at 57.5%, within the legal limit.

The restaurant also said all seafood prices were publicly displayed. According to investigators, the restaurant had installed 26 surveillance cameras monitoring the full process, from seafood selection and weighing to cooking preparation.

Customers were reportedly shown the weighing process and asked to sign off on their orders before the food was prepared.

Following the investigation results, the female tourist reportedly refused compensation.