It took Smash customer Qiu Siyu just a few sharp blows with a baseball bat to wreck what looked like an old car radio, after which two friends battered telephones, audio speakers, rice cookers and even a mannequin.

All three paid 158 yuan ($23) to spend half an hour in an "anger room" in Beijing, where patrons wearing protective gear use hammers and bats to vent their frustration on household objects while staff play music of their choice in the background.

Qiu, a bespectacled 16-year-old high school student with braces, said she was there to vent anger about school.