A man with a weakness for gambling sold his 1-year-old son to pay off his debts in Zengcheng, Guangdong province.
Fan Bingqiang, 26, was awarded custody of his son when he and his wife divorced in September 2009.
One month later, Fan and his mother, Wu Liuchan, sold the boy for 25,000 yuan ($3,772) when they found themselves short of money.
The boy's status was disclosed when Fan was arrested for fraud that same month. Police retrieved the boy and returned him to his mother.
Fan received a sentence of seven years and four months in prison for fraud and selling his son, while his mother was imprisoned for four years.
