Hand-held flame-throwers are being sold as a self-defense tool against sexual attackers in China.

The devices, which look like large cigarette lighters, are on sale for between $10 and $30 from several online shops.

Makers boast they can produce a flame from several inches to one and a half feet long at temperatures up to 1,800C - enough to 'disfigure' an attacker.

Mini flame throwers designed to protect women against sex attackers have gone up for sale for between $10 and $30 in China

Adverts claim the devices are perfectly legal, though Chinese police say otherwise, according to The Telegraph.

They are explicitly marketed as a self-defense tool for women to use against predatory men, with one advert showing a woman being pushed up against a bathroom door.

Another advert on Chinese marketplace Taobao shows a woman chasing a man away while brandishing one of the devices.

Sexual violence is believed to be a common crime in China, though how common is largely unknown, since many go unreported.

Luo Tsun-yin, a social psychologist at Shih Hsin University in Taiwan, believes that nine out of ten crimes are never brought to the attention of the police.

Domestic violence was only made illegal in 2015, though the legislation failed to cover sex crimes. Marital rape is still legal.

Makers say they are capable of producing a flame up to a foot and a half long at temperatures of 1,800C - which is enough to 'disfigure' an attacker

A 2013 UN report found that almost a quarter of Chinese men admitted raping a woman at least once in their life. 87 per cent said sexual entitlement was their motivation, and 57 per cent said they did it because they were bored.

Meanwhile a separate study by the China Family Planning Association in 2016 found that 30 per cent of students at Chinese universities had experiences some form of sexual violence.

The issue of sexual violence has been high on the political agenda in China following a high-profile case of attempted rape last year, in which a man was caught on CCTV dragging a woman down a hotel corridor by her hair.

Shockingly, a member of hotel staff approaches the man but instead of intervening, merely asks the pair to be quiet. Several passersby also do nothing.

Eventually someone steps forward to grab the woman's arm and the attacker flees.

The case went viral after the victim, identified only as Wanwan, posted the footage on social media site Weibo after police told her investigators would be unable to meet with her for a week after the crime.