More than 60 percent of children in China have been beaten by their parents, according to a survey released Thursday by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences at the International Forum for Children.

More than 200 experts from 10 countries and regions participated in the three-day forum co-organized by the Shanghai Women's Federation and the academy. Its theme is children's security and social responsibility.

Yang Xiong, director of the Institute of Youth and Juvenile Studies under the academy, said family violence is the worst kind of harm children can experience.

"Serious violence may cause disability or even death. When children are beaten they have a strong will to resist and some will even seek revenge in the way of self-destruction," Yang said.

About 5,800 students in 10 cities, including Shanghai, answered the survey's questions. About 15 percent of respondents said they had been hit by teachers and 38.6 percent had been teased by students in higher grades.

According to the survey, 10.4 percent of sampled children below 12 slept less than eight hours a day. The proportion keeps increasing with the age going up. Among 15-year-old children, the proportion reached 44.6 percent.

"Parents and educators need to be aware of these things because lack of sleep can stunt a child's growth," Yang said.

Parents also need to be more aware of their behavior around their children. Nearly 10 percent of the questioned children said they worried most that their parents didn't care about them. About 35 percent said they were most afraid to see parents argue or fight.

(Shanghai Daily November 26, 2005)