A 15-year-old girl in Yunnan province's Menglian county who was allegedly stripped and assaulted by eight schoolmates inside the school's toilet has been undergoing treatment at a local hospital for the past eight days.

The attackers, all aged 15 to 16 years, made a 10-minute video of the assault and posted it online.

One of the attackers is the daughter of Menglian county deputy head Yu Yong, police told Chuncheng Evening News.

The victim, identified only as Xiaoyan, a student of the No 1 Middle School in Menglian county, was reportedly bleeding profusely from the nose and ears after the attack.

"Xiaoyan was transferred to several hospitals for treatment, and is now being treated at the first affiliated hospital of Kunming medical college," an administrative officer at the girls' school told China Daily yesterday.

The eight attackers allegedly "slapped, punched, kicked and hit Xiaoyan with high-heeled shoes. They also filmed the girl with their mobile phone cameras after taking off her clothes and flushing them down the toilet", the Chuncheng Evening News reported.

The bullies "stuck two clean tampons" on the victim's face, and not used ones like Xiaoyan told the media earlier, it said. It's alleged Yu Yong's daughter planned the assault, as "Xiaoyan was once friendly with her boyfriend", Xiaoyan's father told a local TV channel.

Yu Yong, who is also in charge of the county's education affairs, visited the victim in hospital on Monday morning, an official of the local education bureau said.

"The two girls could become friends again. They should not let this incident ruin their lives," she said after apologizing to the girl.

The paper quoted an unnamed official of the county government as saying: "The insulting video and pictures of the assault have been deleted from the web."

The school administrator said the incident would be investigated and the culprits would be punished.

Pan Lu, a psychologist, said humans were born to be aggressive like animals, and "adolescents are more prone to pessimistic emotions and a fear of not being recognized".

"It makes them use violence on weaker beings to feel stronger and more powerful.

"Parents can fail to educate rebellious adolescents, even if they are government officials."

Life Education Forum, organized by China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, suggested multiple parities should engage to prevent bullying in schools and colleges.

(China Daily May 27, 2009)