Chinese slave children being 'sold like cabbages'

London, Apr.30 : Thousands of children are being sold "like cabbages" to China's booming factories as virtual slave labour.

According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, hundreds of children, some as young as ten, are being sent to electronics and toy factories across southern China.

Most of them are bought and sold at a street market in Sichuan, one of rural China's most overpopulated provinces, reports The Telegraph.

According to investigative reporters, the children stand in line as they are assessed like cattle, before being driven in 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 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.

ANI