A mother has been accused of child abuse after she was spotted kicking her young daughter in public.
The woman, who has not been named, is believed to have physically lashed out at her daughter after the three-year-old, identified on social media as "Niu Niu", failed to pose properly for a photoshoot. The incident was caught on camera, in a 10-second clip which shows the mother kicking the little one quite hard in the backside.
The clip is shown below, but some sensitive parts have been blurred out.
According to the Daily Mail, the footage was recorded on Monday evening in Hangzhou, China - allegedly after the girl had been working all day as a "fashion model".
Niu Niu has apparently been "working" for about six months now, and is sought after by online stores who want cute toddlers to model their products. It has not been reported who exactly Niu Niu was supposed to be working with that day, but it has been reported that her mother has been overworking her recently.
One shop owner who has worked with the girl before told BJ news that the toddler, who does not yet go to school or nursery, has been forced to go along to lots of jobs by her mother so that she can make money from her.
"In China, an experienced child model can earn 80-150 yuan (£9-17) for each outfit they model," the Daily Mail reports. "They are usually required to complete one shoot within four minutes, or 15 shoots in an hour."
In light of the video footage being released, commenters on the Chinese social media site Weibo have been questioning the ethics of putting so much pressure on children to work for money.
"The poor child is used by her parents as means to earn money and has to endure violence," wrote user, Tang Xiaowan.
"The child is so young and has already worked many orders and lost the happy childhood she should deserve," added ye you yao rao. "And her mother even behaved like this. This is scary."
Eventually, Niu Niu's mother posted a response, in which she allegedly claimed that she had not intended to hurt her daughter, and felt "deeply sorry" over what had happened.
However, she also tried to insist that she was not punishing the three-year-old for something that happened during a shoot, but rather because she had been running too close to the road. In an attempt to defend her actions, she said: "No parent could claim that they have never beaten their child. I rarely beat my child normally."
She also claimed that the young girl did not sustain any injuries from being kicked.
