AFP - China has put 23 people on trial on suspicion of involvement in the sale of nearly 50 babies, in what state media described Friday as one of the country's biggest-ever child trafficking cases.

Prosecutors accused ring members of buying baby boys for 13,000-20,000 yuan (1,900-2,925 dollars) in the southwest province of Yunnan and selling them for 40,000 yuan in the north of the country, the China Daily reported.

The accused allegedly also bought baby girls for 5,000-14,000 yuan and sold them for 20,000 yuan, the court heard during the two-day trial, which concluded Thursday in the central city of Wuhan.

No verdict has been delivered.

"Most of them have little education and didn't realise what they had done breaks the law," said court official Lu Danjun.

Under Chinese law, child traffickers face punishment ranging from five years in jail to the death penalty.

Prosecutors said the two ringleaders -- a brother and sister pair -- had trafficked 49 babies between March 2005 and July 2009 with the help of friends and relatives. Police shut down the ring in mid-2009.

Chinese babies, especially boys, born to people in poor and remote areas are sometimes sold to more wealthy families.

Trafficking of women and children remains a problem in China with many sociologists blaming the nation's "one child" family planning policy for fuelling the crime.

Under the policy, aimed at controlling the world's largest population of 1.3 billion, people who live in urban areas are generally allowed one child, while rural families can have two if the first is a girl.

This has put a premium on baby boys, while baby girls are often sold off as couples try for a male heir.