Nine-year-old boy chained to a tree, stripped and whipped by his father in freezing 5C temperatures... for skipping school



It is legal and common practice for parents to beat their children in China

Nearly half of girls and three fifths of boys report mild corporal punishment

Fewer, but still significant numbers, report suffering severe beatings



Covered in bruises, his skin red and smarting, this sobbing eight-year-old has just been stripped to his underwear, tied to a tree and beaten by his father.

If that wasn’t shocking enough, many in the sizeable crowd that gathered around applauded as the father lashed him with a stick.

The boy from Nanchong in Sichuan province, south-west China, skipped classes after receiving the equivalent of £10 from his father.



He had also reportedly failed to return on time earlier in the week. After driving around the city in search of his son, the father caught him near a market and exacted his punishment.

A crowd gathers at the scene where a father has stripped his nine-year-old son and tied him to a tree before viciously beating him. The man said his son was being punished for skipping school and failing to return home

The picture taker, Lin Gang, said that the temperature was only 5C when the all but naked child was tied to the tree and beaten.

Corporal punishment of the kind meted out to the Nanchong boy is lawful in China, although there are legal provisions to prevent excessive child abuse.

The law even goes to far as to allow authorities to order parents to subject their children to 'strict discipline' if they are guilty of serious misbehaviour.

Traditionally, corporal punishment is common among Chinese families, although attitudes are beginning to change in the country.

In a letter to the South China Morning Post, Melody Koo, a pupil at Marknoll Fathers' School, wrote: 'Many traditional Chinese families use corporal punishment to teach their children.

'They believe that once the pain is over, the lesson will be engraved on the child's mind and the mistake will not be repeated. It's an easy way of "teaching" children right from wrong.'

According to a 2010 study cited by the Global Initiative to End Corporal Punishment, around half of of girls and three in five boys in China had experienced 'mild' corporal punishment in the past month.

That included spanking hitting, or slapping with a bare hand; hitting or slapping on the hand, arm, or leg; shaking; or hitting with an object, according to the study published in the International Journal of Paediatrics.

A further 10 per cent of girls and 15 per cent of boys reported experiencing severe corporal punishment, which included hitting or slapping on the face, head, or ears or repeated beating with an implement.

Corporal punishment is common among traditional Chinese families, and lawful in the country. A recent study found half of girls and three fifths of boys had been subjected to mild corporal punishment at home

This case from Nanchong undoubtedly falls into that latter category.

According to the father, his son had been absent from school for several days without his knowledge, and the boy didn't even come back home the previous evening.

In the morning, the father saw his son wandering the street. The boy tried to run, but his father caught him and beat him.