A little girl has been found cruelly abandoned inside a graveyard in China after being left there by her father, Metro UK reports.

The two-year-old was apparently found by villagers tied to bamboo canes with a sign on her back naming her and her mother.

According to reports, the girl’s parents had divorced and she had been left there in a bid to alert the mother’s attention.

The girl was discovered after crying was heard in the direction of the graveyard in Lifu Town in Qu County, Sichuan Province, according to Huanqiu.com.

The child was said to be shivering and had turned purple from the cold.

She was taken into protection by police and then picked up by her mother.

The child, is said to have lived with her father, while her sister lives with her mother.

Police have failed to track down the parent and it is unclear if the child will carry on living with him.