Children in China sold into slavery - report

Thousands of children in southwest China have been sold into slavery like "cabbages", to work as labourers in more prosperous areas such as the booming southern province of Guangdong, the Southern Metropolis newspaper said.

Seventy-six children from Liangshan county had been missing since the Chinese Lunar Year festival in February, 42 of whom had already left the region to work.

"The youngest children found in the child labour market were only 7 and 9 years old," it said.