Thousands of children are being sold "like cabbages" to China's booming factories as virtual slave labour.

Young people – some aged under 10 – are said to have been discovered being bought and sold at a street market in Sichuan, one of rural China's most overpopulated provinces.

According to investigative reporters, the children stood in line as they were assessed like cattle, before being driven on trucks to factories in the Pearl River Delta, China's manufacturing heartland.

Southern Metropolis Daily, a newspaper based in the delta, suggests that abuses remain rampant in factories despite efforts by campaigners within China and abroad.

The abuses might have become worse as wages have finally begun to rise in recent years, prompting businesses to seek new ways to cut costs.

The newspaper was tipped off by residents living close to the street market. One local man, Mr Shao, said he had watched children being "sold like cabbages".

A reporter, posing as a clothing factory manager, was allowed to inspect would-be "employees" by patting their arms and stomachs. He agreed to pay them 3.5 yuan an hour – about 25p.

Many had fake papers saying they were over 18; but, when asked, most were between 13 and 15. One was just seven, another nine.

The newspaper said that many came from the same area of Sichuan – Liangshan county – where 76 children have been reported as missing since the Chinese new year in February.

One of the most disturbing findings was that local officials seemed to be complicit. A foreman, who produced officially stamped documents concerning the children, said: "We have the complete right to manage them, by any means. You only need to sign a work agreement with us."

In a similar case last year, hundreds of young men were found to be working as slave labour in a string of brick kilns across northern China. Lured with promises of high wages, they were locked up and, in some cases, beaten to death.

The Southern Metropolis Daily was told stories of
hundreds of children being sent to electronics and toy
factories across southern China

(Abridged from a Daily Telegraph article)