In this file photo, students are seen preparing for exams in Tianquan county, southwest China's Sichuan province, on April 22, 2013

An 11-year-old girl in China was beaten to death by her father for copying a classmate's homework, state-run media said on Wednesday.

The man "ordered the girl to kneel down, tied her hands and beat her", the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The father took her to hospital after she stopped breathing but she died the next day, Xinhua said.

Doctors at the hospital in Hangzhou found bruises and injuries on the girl's neck and back and signs she had been choked for as long as five minutes, the Xiandai Jinbao said.

The incident is the latest in a series of child abuse incidents in China that have drawn widespread outrage.

Earlier this month, graphic photos of a 10-year-old boy in Guangdong province who had allegedly been beaten by his step-mother went viral on Chinese social media, with many users calling for stricter laws against child abuse.

Last year, a six-year-old boy in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi was found near his home covered in blood and with his eyes removed. The boy's aunt, who was a suspect in the case, killed herself days later.

Chinese parents often put heavy pressure on their children over their schooling, and a study last week blamed the country's exam-driven education system -- where progress depends on key tests -- for the vast majority of pupil suicides.

In January last year, a student in Inner Mongolia jumped from the top of a building after learning that his test scores had dropped, the China Daily said.

Earlier this month a 13-year-old boy in Jiangsu province hanged himself after he failed to finish his homework, the newspaper added.