Married Chinese man ordered to pay $5000 for taking another woman's virginity

A court in China has ruled that a woman's virginity is worth about $5000.

The woman, identified only by her surname Chen, had sued her boyfriend, identified as Li, for taking her virginity while he was secretly already married, the South China Morning Post reports.

The pair met online five years but only became romantically involved last September.

Chen claims the pair had sex for the first time during a trip to Singapore late last year but after they returned to China, Li reportedly became distant and soon broke off the relationship.

Chen, unable to contact Li, broke into his home last February and discovered he had a wife.

She then sued him for 500,000 ($90,000) yuan for violating her "virginity right" but the court decided to award 30,000 ($5400) yuan instead.

"Violating the right to virginity might lead to harm to a person's body, health, freedom and reputation ... it ought to be compensated," the court ruled, according to AFP.