An abusive father tortured his 11-year-old daughter by sewing her mouth shut with fishing wire, according to reports.
China Daily newspaper says the dad starved, burnt and beat the girl in a campaign of horrific abuse.
The father, called Yang Shihai, was said to have confessed to the torture after villagers found the girl wandering along a road in China's Guizhou Province.
Villagers identified the girl as Xiao Li and cops quickly arrested her father. As well as having her mouth sewn up with fishing wire, Xiao Li suffered 'scalp burns, needle jabs and extreme malnutrition'.
The girl had been forced to kneel on a floor covered with broken glass and she had been hung upside down and beaten with ropes and sticks.
It was reported that the girl repeatedly fled to her grandmother's house but would face a beating when her father caught up with her.
Xiao Li is now recovering in hospital and medical costs have been waived by the local authority.
Tang Tian, the local hospital director, told the newspaper that the young girl was malnourished and weighed half what girls her age should.
He added: "She looked depressed when she was sent to our hospital, but now she is recovering well. When I asked her who caused her injuries, she said 'my dad did'."
Local government officials have appealed for guardians to look after Xiao Li as her grandmother is too frail.