After we recently reported that a woman in Shenzhen had beaten her own daughter before burning the body to make the death look like an accident, Shanghaiist intelligently connected the problem of weak child abuse laws with the government’s reluctance to focus on anything but economics.

But the frequency of child abuse cases at the hands of both parents and teachers may force the government to act.

The latest such case saw a 6 year-old boy die after his father lashed him ferociously with a belt in Shenzhen’s Longgang District on the night of December 28, Liaoning Satellite Television reports.

The father, Zheng Junpeng, told police he was beating the boy to “educate” him at their home on Bantian Road. When he realised the seriousness of his son’s injuries, he rushed him to hospital, but the boy, Xiaohao, could not be saved.

It was the seventh child abuse case to make the news in Shenzhen in 2012, according to Southern Metropolis Daily.

The beating happened around 10 p.m. after Zheng had been told by Xiaohao’s teacher that his son was a bully who would try to steal classmates’ money and beat them if they failed to comply.

The landlord, Shu, overheard the beating and knocked on the door to tell Zheng to stop. Zheng did not answer the door so Shu shouted through the door, asking Zheng not to beat his son so hard before leaving.

Xiaohao was found cold in bed but he was discovered too late. The case is being investigated.

A 2005 survey carried out by the All China Women’s Federation led to the discovery that child abuse was extremely common in China. The Hong Kong Law Blog tackled the issue of child abuse in Mainland China in November.