Zhang Qihui, 35, has been detained by police on suspicion of severing her nephew's ears with a fruit knife and leaving wounds on his chin after taking the boy into an alley in a rural village in the central Hubei province on January 28.
She allegedly carried out the gruesome attack after quarrels with her family members over housing construction in Wanghe Village of Xiangyang City, police said.
The boy was later hurried to Xiangyang Central Hospital, where only one of his ears was successfully reconnected, Shen Ying, a doctor at the hospital said.