GUANGZHOU: A 5-year-old girl is undergoing a series of cosmetic surgeries at a local hospital after her face was seriously deformed due to years of domestic violence in her adopted family.

Lai Liyun, from a small village in the Chaoyang district of Shantou in Guangdong province, was abandoned by her parents some 20 days after birth in 2003. Her misfortune continued after she was adopted by villager Chen Fengyin two years later.

"The girl was seriously abused by Chen, who claimed Lai was a wayward child," Lai Xiuzhen, the girl's aunt, told China Daily yesterday.