Qiurong has been shaved bald because doctors will need to perform five to seven skin grafts using the skin on her skull - the only part of her body that was not burned. The operations will cost at least 500,000 yuan (HK$610,000).

She loves eating grapes but nurses now have to break them apart and feed her. Nurses said Qiurong was a very strong girl in her first two days in hospital, not crying despite the extreme physical pain. Everyone, however, has a breaking point.

'Nanny, please don't go. I promise I'll be studious,' she said, breaking down in tears when she finally saw her grandmother, who has been her guardian since she was just a year old, at the hospital.

Family members have described Qiurong as a pleasant, outgoing girl who loves watching television and singing.

'She likes to follow her granny to the fields and would leave the door at five or six in the morning,' her uncle, Lin Shuizhu, said. 'She's so small for field work but always insisted on going.' He said Qiurong had always been stoic and the only occasions when he had seen her cry were when other children had teased her over her school marks and when she missed her parents.

Her parents separated in 2005 and she's been looked after by her paternal grandmother in Yunfu since. Her mother works in Foshan and only returns home to see her once a year.

Police said her father, Lin Shuiquan, had been jailed for nine months for stealing motorcycles in 2009. After his release, he turned to occasional robbery. He decided to divorce his wife this year and only showed up on his family's doorstep to ask for money before disappearing again.

He turned up again on July 17 and took Qiurong out to 'play'. On August 14, they checked into a Yunfu hotel. Witnesses said he scolded Qiurong, saying she was not his child because she did not look like him and accused her of being a thief.

After the scolding came the scalding.

He poured boiling water down her back while giving her a bath. It was a crime he repeated twice more - once at the same hotel and again at another hotel on August 18. Qiurong's body was badly burned and he used an antibacterial lotion to cover her body. Finding her close to death last Saturday, he sent her home, and relatives rushed her to hospital.

When Lin and his girlfriend were arrested last Sunday, he confessed to the horrific crimes he committed. The case was first reported by mainland media on Monday.

However, Qiurong's suffering is more than just a personal tragedy - it is also cause for national shame. The mainland has consistently failed to use the law to protect vulnerable children despite widespread child abuse. In Guangdong last year, there were 3,874 domestic abuse cases - including child abuse - reported, 17.6 per cent more than in 2009.

In 2005, the All-China Women's Federation and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) conducted the first scientific survey of the physical abuse of children on the mainland. It found that almost half of the more than 3,500 university students questioned in six provinces said they had suffered some form of physical abuse during childhood. The survey was carried out with government support, reflecting a degree of official acknowledgement of the problem. However, it does not appear that much has been done to advance the legal protection of children since then.

Last month, a starving eight-year-old Hong Kong girl jumped from a first-floor balcony in Panyu , Guangzhou, to find food after being abused by her father and stepmother. She was often locked out on the balcony at night.

However, mainland police seldom intervene in domestic abuse cases, largely because they are viewed as internal family conflicts. They only get involved when the abuse results in serious consequences, which is far too late. The law does not clearly state who can press charges, but immediate family members, such as a mother, are usually the only ones to press charges on behalf of a child.

And that leaves the handling of domestic violence and child abuse cases largely dependent on the attitude of local law enforcement officers - a far from satisfactory situation. The mainland lacks a body dedicated to fighting child abuse, but that is no excuse for society as a whole to tolerate such alarming abuse, repeated across the country. Its legal system and law enforcement authorities need to demonstrate an iron-fisted approach to abusers and make sure they get the punishment they deserve.

The authorities recently demonstrated their determination to combat drink-driving after many were killed by such drivers. How many child abuse cases will have to be reported before they take it as seriously? They need to revise the law and increase manpower to address the problem. At least there is some hope in the response of ordinary mainlanders to Qiurong's plight. Newspaper readers have donated about 620,000 yuan to help pay for her medical care, adding to a 50,000 yuan fund established by the Yunan county government.