AFP / Leo Ramirez 
 
 The woman was seeking more than ,000 in psychological damages, plus medical costs of 0 
 
 A Chinese woman who sued a man for "violating her right to virginity" after he wooed her with false promises has been awarded nearly $5,000 by a court, reports said Wednesday. 
 
 The two were dating but after the woman, surnamed Chen, found out her boyfriend was already married she sued him for swindling her out of her virginity, accusing him of pretending to be single and pledging to make her his wife, Shanghai media said. 
 
 A spokesman for the Pudong New Area People's Court confirmed the case and the judgement, but said the man had appealed the ruling. 
 
 The two met online in 2009 but only began dating in 2013, later travelling to Singapore where they consummated the relationship, online media platform The Paper said. 
 
 After the man, surnamed Li, suddenly broke off contact, Chen burst into his home and found him with his wife. 
 
 Chen sued, accusing him of violating her rights to virginity and health and demanding more than $81,000 in psychological damages, plus medical costs of $250. 
 
 The court found the original demand "excessive" but said in its ruling that the "right to virginity" should be protected by law as it was a "moral right" related to "sexual freedom, sexual safety and sexual purity". 
 
 "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 said, though it did not explain how it reached the precise figure. 
 
 The defendant did not appear in court, but through a lawyer he denied having sex with the woman. ||||| A married Shanghai man who had sex with a virgin after telling her he was single has been ordered to pay 30,000 yuan (HK$37,830) compensation. 
 
 On Tuesday, the Pudong New Area People's Court ordered the man, surnamed Li, to pay his younger lover, surnamed Chen, the money in compensation for violating her "virginity right". 
 
 The court heard how Chen met Li online five years ago but didn't start dating him until September 2013, at which time Li told her he was a bachelor. 
 
 During a trip to Singapore later in the year, the couple had sex for the first time, but after they returned to China Li became distant and soon broke off their relationship. 
 
 In February, unable to contact Li, Chen broke into his home, where she met his wife. 
 
 On March 26, Chen filed a lawsuit alleging that Li had "violated her virginity by deception". She demanded 500,000 yuan in compensation and a written apology. 
 
 Li's attorney denied that the couple had had sex, but said his client had been serious about their relationship. 
 
 The court held that virginity was a civil right that should be protected, and that perpetrators who violate it can be held liable. By taking Chen's virginity by deception, it said, Li had brought about a negative influence on her health and reputation, and should therefore pay compensation and apologise. 
 
 Though this case was the first of its kind in Shanghai, it is not without precedent in China. 
 
 In February 2013, a court in Xiamen, Fujian province ruled that a married man who had a one-night stand with a woman during which he represented himself as single had violated her "chastity rights" and should make a written apology and pay a symbolic compensation of 1 yuan. 
 
 Courts in Kunming and Shenzhen have also ordered rapists whose victims were virgins to pay greater levels of compensation for violating the women's "chastity rights".
– A Chinese woman's virginity is worth $5,000, at least in this instance. A woman referred to only by her surname Chen was awarded that amount yesterday by a Chinese court after she sued a man she was dating (and later learned was married) for "violating her right to virginity." She alleged that he pretended to be single, vowed to marry her, and bedded her, according to Shanghai media via AFP; one outlet goes so far as to specify that they consummated the relationship while on a trip to Singapore late last year. The South China Morning Post reports "Li" ended things soon after the trip. Looking to talk to him, Chen went to his home in February and discovered his wife. The suit followed. Chen sought medical costs of $250 and $81,000 in psychological damages, a figure the court deemed "excessive." But it did determine that virginity was a civil right, and "violating the right to virginity might lead to harm to a person's body, health, freedom, and reputation ... it ought to be compensated," in this case, in the form of $5,000. Chen also wanted a written apology from Li; though the court ruled Li should apologize, the Post doesn't specify how. The court didn't share its reasoning for the figure, which was far greater than the symbolic 1 yuan another married Chinese man was ordered to pay in 2013 to a woman he had a one-night stand with. Li's lawyer maintains the couple did not have sex. (It's not the only unusual sex-related case to make it to court this year.)