BEING able to return home to his apart-ment in Baoshan was the gift Liu Peidong was looking forward to the most last Sunday - Children's Day."Mum will never beat me, and I will never tell lies," he said.

　　However, that was not the story a fortnight earlier when the 10-year-old boy had a miraculous escape from death after jumping from a sixth floor balcony to escape the beatings of his foster mother, who is also his aunt by marriage.

　　The boy's father had died when he was still a baby and his uncle had shouldered the responsibility of bringing him up when Liu's mother remarried.

　　However, peace never reigned in the family and the conflict between the boy and his foster mother escalated, culminating in his near-fatal plunge on May 17.

　　Scars on the boy's body tell of long-existing violence in the family. The most startling injuries were wounds to the boy's mouth.

　　The aunt-foster mother, Zhao Guanghuai, admitted causing the injuries: two 1-centimetre rips to each corner of Liu's mouth.

　　"It was all because he lied again and again," Zhao told reporters from Oriental Television Station and Shanghai Television Station several days later.

　　In the family, fists and bars were used as the weapons to "educate" the boy when he lied. Liu's teachers and classmates often noticed that he would arrive at school carrying injuries.

　　"Once a bone was broken when he was beaten by his foster mother," recalled his teacher, Liu Jianping. "The boy is very bright and he is one of the top students in the class but one major short-coming used to be that he was inclined to tell lies."

　　Child beating

　　Although teachers went to the boy's home on several occasions to try to persuade the mother to cease the beatings, their efforts proved fruitless.

　　The boy's 20-metre (65-feet) jump of May 17 followed more punishment for lying. After Zhao had beaten him, she locked him in their sixth floor apartment and went out to the vegetable market.

　　Deciding he could not bear it any longer, the boy jumped from the balcony with his school bag.

　　Liu's life was saved when his fall ended on top of some awnings before he hit the ground. Despite his injuries, he did not seek help but crawled away.

　　"I feared she would hit me again. I crawled into a bush nearby to hide from her," he said.

　　Media reports of the incident immediately kindled furious reproaches in the community over the foster mother's cruelty and also attracted the attention of local authorities including the police.

　　Baoshan District Public Security Bureau has registered the case with Zhao suspected of child abuse.

　　Lu Huidi, from Yuepu County's women's federation and Cheng Yaoguang, from the county's educational administration visited Liu in hospital nearly every day in an effort to find the best solution to the domestic abuse.

　　It has long been rooted in many Chinese minds that domestic violence - including child abuse - is a private, household affair and this is the biggest obstacle faced by police and social workers. Also, beating children has been viewed as an important part of their education and has a long tradition in China.

　　While this latter view has begun to shift and most schools now clearly stipulate that teachers should not administer physical punishment, violence in families is proving harder to eradicate.

　　In Liu's case, the school and Children's Protection Administration had repeatedly tried mediation.

　　China also has interpretations of what constitutes abuse that are different from other countries

　　Zhou Nianli, an expert on children's education from East China Normal University, said that child abuse was a problem that should receive more attention in Shanghai.

　　Referring to www.age06.com, a Shanghai-based special website designed for children's education, Zhou pointed out one such difference in definitions of child abuse.

　　"Sometimes, a Chinese mother may hit her child with her hand if the mother can show she does so out of caring," she said. "However, that is regarded as abuse in Japan."

　　Reconciliation

　　She said that if China followed foreign definitions and regulations, many more Chinese children would be regarded as being victims of abuse.

　　"In Shanghai, many children have behavioural problems such as violence or cowering," she said. "There are about two or three such children in each class in Shanghai kindergartens and their conditions are closely connected with their parents' abuse of them."

　　After the intense social pressure that followed Liu's jump, Zhao came to realize she was seriously at fault and that she was to blame for the near-fatality.

　　She appeared at her foster son's hospital bedside five days after the fall. Holding Liu in her arms, she buried her head in his chest and kept murmuring to the boy that: "Mama will never hit you again."

　　"I regret it deeply," said Zhao. "I was wrong."

　　The boy also snuggled up to his foster mother quietly with smiles, twiddling with her shirt.

　　"In fact, the boy also told me that he missed his foster mum and Zhao's apology is the key," said Lu, standing to one side and watching with a smile.

　　"He has nestled in her arms since she came. The boy spoke only to her and not to his foster father although the foster father stayed with him in the ward day and night. In fact, there was affection between the boy and his foster mother." Lu said.

　　In Lu's eyes, the best solution is for the foster mother and her son to make up.

　　"It may not be absolutely satisfactory if we had to find another pair of foster parents for the boy," she explained. "The boy would once again have to learn to adjust himself to a brand new atmosphere, which is not good for his growing-up."