A Chinese woman has had to undergo extensive plastic surgery after a crazed bus driver pinned her down and began chewing her face.

It is at least the sixth such bizarre and gruesome attack, with several stories about cannibalism recently making headlines across the world.

The UK's Independent said the attack happened last week in the city of Wenzhou, south east China. Witnesses caught it on camera and posted footage on YouTube.

It was reported the man, known to locals as Dong, had been drinking heavily during a lunch with friends before running on to a busy street and stopping traffic.

He targeted a car being driven by a woman identified only as Du, jumping on her bonnet and hammering on the windscreen.

Witnesses said Du sat inside screaming but then scrambled out of the car. Dong chased her before leaping on top of her and biting and chewing her face.

Witnesses tried to pull the "crazed" Dong off her, but were unable to.

Police eventually arrived at the scene and restrained and arrested the man, but not before he had caused considerable damage to the woman's face.

The attack is the latest in a string of "face chewing" incidents around the world.

Eugene Rudy made headlines in May, when he ate the face off  65-year-old homeless man Ronald Poppo in Miami.

The 31-year-old was shot and killed by police during the incident, but not before he had eaten about 75 per cent of the man's face. Poppo lost an eye and suffered extensive injuries to the rest of his face.

Also that month, Alexander Kinyua, a 21-year-old Morgan State University student, admitted to murdering his roommate Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie and eating his brain and heart.

The Kenyan student took to Facebook to rant about 'mass human sacrifices' before the attack in the suburbs of Baltimore.

In Canada, porn star Luka Magnotta allegedly murdered his 33-year-old Chinese lover Jun Lin in a Montreal flat on the evening of May 24.

Parts of the university student's body then turned up in the mail at political offices in Ottawa, including the Canadian prime minister's party headquarters, as well as some schools.

In June, 26-year-old Charles Baker got naked before storming his girlfriend's Florida home and eating the flesh off a man's arm.

He continued through a barrage of police Taser guns until he was eventually tackled.

- © Fairfax NZ News