Like many mothers, Li Shubing despaired over her inability to control her teenage son. The 14-year-old often stayed out all night playing games in an Internet cafe.

When she learned of a summer camp in Sichuan province that promised to cure Internet addiction, she enrolled her son for a one-month course at $715. Although the camp boasted extreme methods — “suffering can help a person improve”, read one of the advertisements — Li thought a little discipline would be the ticket to whip her son into shape.

The boy, Pu Liang, now lies hospitalised in critical condition with broken ribs, kidney damage and internal bleeding. Removed from the camp by police last week, he told his parents he had been beaten by a counselor and fellow campers after he was unable to complete a rigorous regimen of push-ups.

“I never imagined they could be so cruel to treat a child like this,” said Li, who runs a carpentry shop in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Less than three weeks earlier, another teen was beaten to death at a similar boot camp for Internet addiction in Nanning, Guangxi province. Fifteen-year-old Deng Senshan, had been at the camp less than 48 hours when he died. Thirteen people have been arrested and the camp closed.

The incidents shed light on the phenomenon of using extreme methods to wean children off the Internet. According to the China Youth Internet Association, there are 300 camps in the country devoted to Internet addiction.

Methods for addressing the addiction include electric shock therapy and anti-depressants, but some camp administrators more benignly send their campers to climb mountains and immerse themselves in nature. Some employ former members of the People’s Liberation Army, outfitting their campers in fatigues and drilling them in military marching formations.

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