Lin Thi Tuyen, 42, got 11 years, and Moong Van Long, 45, got 10 years for "trafficking children."

In May 2009 Tuyen hired Long to find young girls to traffic to China. A few days later Hoa, an eight-year-old girl, came to Long's house to play with his daughter.

Her mother had abandoned her when she was an infant, and her father had passed away shortly afterward, leaving her in the care of a foster parent.

Long, knowing about her family situation, lied to her that her mother was in China and offered to take her there. Hoa agreed.

Long took her to Tuyen, and the woman then took her by bus to the northern border province of Quang Ninh 500 kilometers away.

There she sold the girl to an unidentified woman from the Chinese side for VND25 million (now $1,285).

Hoa was then resold to an unidentified Chinese man as a wife.

Tuyen kept a fourth of the money and gave the rest to Long.

In April this year Hoa finally managed to escape from her buyer and reported to the Vietnamese police, resulting in the arrests of the duo.

The court also ordered them to pay VND80 million ($3,443) to the victim as compensation.

China, the world’s most populous country, suffers from one of the worst gender imbalances due to its one-child policy and illegal abortion of female fetuses by parents who preferred sons.

This has led to increasing trafficking of Vietnamese women and baby girls to that country.

About 80 percent of Vietnamese human trafficking victims end up in China, according to the Ministry of Public Security.