A YOUNG girl at a Chinese zoo learned a harsh lesson when she was punched in the face by a monkey after teasing it with food.

The footage shows an adult and a small child crouching down to hand-feed the monkey.

The adult signals for the child to feed the animal but in a shocking turn of events, the monkey strikes her in the face after it looks like she closes her hand and takes the food away.

The child ends up face down after having fallen down a number of stone steps.

The China Global TV Network, which obtained the footage, confirmed the monkey was being taunted when it lashed out.

The severity of the small girl’s injuries are still not known.