The girl's body is covered all over with scars.

Shenzhen prosecutors approved the arrest of a couple for alleged child abuse that led to the death of their 10-year-old daughter, a Shenzhen-based newspaper reported today.

The girl was raised by her uncle in the countryside in order for her parents to avoid government fines as they had violated the one-child policy. According to Chinese family planning rules, a family only can have one child. The report didn't say how many children the couple has.

When she was six, her father surnamed Xu took her back to live in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, according to the New Express Daily report.

Xu and Zhang, the girl's mother, allegedly beat he girl with a clothing rack and slippers due to difficulties in communication, the report said. The alleged abuse continued in December when they suspected their daughter had damaged a chair and kept urinating on the balcony.

The girl was not sent to hospital after she was scalded by boiling water on her face, chest, belly and thigh on December 10, the report said, without clarifying how the scalding occurred.

The girl didn't eat anything after she was beaten and fell ill five days later, the report said. Her parents didn't notice the girl was breathing too quickly the next day, the newspaper said.

Only when they found the girl couldn't breathe on December 17 did they send the girl to a local hospital, according to the report.

The girl died later that day of respiratory failure, caused by pneumonia, bleeding of the lungs and pulmonary edema, the report said.