A man in Yibin, Sichuan province, who stripped his 5-year-old daughter's upper body and dragged her along the street, told media that he "was not abusing the girl but it's just a simple and crude form of education", after he sparked wide critism from Web users for mistreating the girl.

Western China Metropolis Daily quoted the man as saying on Tuesday, after pictures of the girl with a naked torso and being forcibly dragged by her father went viral on the Internet.

In the pictures, the man, who was wearing heavy winter clothes, stripped the clothes from his daughter's upper body on a rainy day.

"The girl was about 5 years old and seemed quite stubborn. She refused to put on her outerwear and threw it on the road. Maybe her father was very angry and therefore took off her other clothes," a local resident surnamed Zhou who witnessed the scene was quoted as saying.

Xiong Xiaobing, a psychological counselor, told the newspaper that many Chinese children are very self-centered due to overindulgence by their families.

"But the father in the pictures should correct his educational method, which was simple and crude and will definately hurt his daughter," Xiong said.