Legal barriers aggravate child abuse

The girl looked pale, thin and weak. She was so small; nobody would have guessed she was 11 years old.

After being rescued from her abusive father on May 8, Yang Xin (pseudonym), from Bijie, Guizhou Province, was placed in a local hospital where she quietly curled up like a wounded little animal on a hospital bed. There were bruises all over her body. She has the height of an average 7 year old after suffering long term malnutrition and constant beatings from her father, Yang Shihai.

Her once soft and thick hair is now almost gone. Her scalp is scarred.

In October she came home late after collecting plants in the mountains. Her father furiously picked her up by her feet and dipped her head in a pot of boiling water.

Her life was a horror film. Over the past six years, Yang Xin was pierced with needles, forced to kneel on broken glass, and once had her mouth sewn shut by her father using fish wire to "keep her quiet."

"I was appalled. I can't imagine how someone could be this cruel to his own child," said Wang Jie, one of the local volunteers who helped Yang Xin in hospital.

Yang's case has reverberated throughout China, prompting the public to ask why such appalling child abuse cases keep appearing in modern society and more importantly, how to effectively stop such cruelty in the future. 

A life of misery

Yang Xin's nightmare started when she was 5 years old.

According to her grandmother, Yang's parents left their impoverished hometown to work in big cities as migrant workers after Yang was born. She was raised by her grandparents until the age of 5. When the family finally reunited, Yang suddenly found she had four new siblings, all born while their parents were working elsewhere.

"It was sad. The girl's father treated the other kids like a normal parent but often beat little Yang Xin as if she wasn't his. After working as a migrant worker for five years, he seemed to feel nothing for the daughter he left behind," said Wang.

Yang Xin's father is currently being detained by police and the mother has disappeared from sight. Several local residents told the Global Times that the mother treated the girl with indifference.

"She never paid her daughter any visits in the hospital. After she was confronted by angry parents over instances of child abuse, she couldn't handle the pressure. She left home, leaving her other four children behind, and never came back," Wang said.

Although Yang's parents were not available for interviews, analysts said that they fit the typical profile of impoverished, abusive parents throughout the country.

"We've seen similar cases before. Families like this have many more children than they can afford and are under a lot of financial pressure. Parents are often uneducated, which means the concept of child protection doesn't even enter their minds. They are emotionally detached from their children after years of separation. Life has been hard on them, and they try to vent their disappointment and frustration through the physical abuse of their children," Zhang Xuemei, the deputy director of the Beijing Voluntary Lawyers for the Protection of Minors, told the Global Times.