BEIJING, April 18 -- An 11-year-old boy from eastern China has become the talk of social media after swallowing a 100g gold bar - and living to tell the tale.

According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), the boy, surnamed Qian, was playing at home in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, when he somehow managed to gulp down the precious metal.

Feeling only a "slight swelling in his stomach," he casually told his parents - who rushed him to Suzhou University Affiliated Children's Hospital.

Doctors were stunned when an X-ray revealed a shiny, high-density object lodged in his intestinal tract.

At first, they hoped to avoid surgery and prescribed medication to, quite literally, flush out the problem.

But after two days of radio silence (and no gol...