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.

The aunt, who took care of the girl after she was abandoned, was accompanying her during the surgical treatment, which began on Monday at the My Like Cosmetic Surgery Hospital in Guangzhou, the provincial capital.

Her aunt first visited Chen's family last year and was surprised to see that the girl's face was seriously deformed.

"So we took her back from Chen," Lai said.

Chen was later sentenced to three years in jail by the Chaoyang district court in March this year for his abuse of the child.

Prior to the sentence, the families of Chen and Lai also reached an agreement in November last year, with Chen paying up to 400,000 yuan ($58,578) to Lai for compensation.

Doctors from the hospital had been to Lai's hometown several times since early this year, to visit the girl and to make a diagnosis, said Xiong Minggen, president of the hospital.

"We want to help her by providing free surgeries," Xiong said.

The girl's face has been seriously deformed, with a collapsed nose, deformed lips and ears and scarred forehead, Xiong said.

Cases of family violence against children have increased by about 20 percent across the province over the past two decades, with many victims seriously injured due to a lack of protective shelters, according to the Guangdong Provincial Women and Children Federation.