Based on interviews with 20 parent‐child pairs and focus group discussion with another 20 children in Beijing, this article addresses the common myths of child abuse held among the Chinese. These myths include: (1) The Western concept of ‘child abuse’ does not fit China's national conditions, so China need not be concerned with the child abuse problem; (2) well‐meant child battering is not child abuse; (3) it is impossible for biological parents to abuse their own children; (4) only abnormal parents with psychological illness will abuse their children; (5) child battering is not child abuse because the battered child does not bear grudges and parent‐child relationship is not affected; and (6) parents with higher education will not commit child abuse. Attempts are made to demythify these false beliefs because it is believed that children can be better protected from abuse as the reality of children suffering abuse is brought to light.

根據在北京與二十對父母兒童的訪談和另外二十位兒童的焦點小組討論，本文提出了一些常見於中國，有關虐待兒童的迷思: (1) 西方的“虐待兒童”概念不適合中國國情，因此中國無須關注虐兒問題; (2) 父母出自善意打孩子不是虐待兒童; (3) 親生父母不可能虐待自己的孩子; (4) 只有心理變態的父母才會虐待自己的孩子; (5) 父母打孩子不是虐待兒童，因為孩子不記仇而且親子關系不受影響; (6) 受過高等教育的父母不會虐待兒童。本文嘗試呈現並解構這些迷思，因為只有揭示現實，兒童才可能得到更好的保護。

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