AN impoverished father has tied his eight-year-old boy to a post and tried to auction him off to the highest bidder in China.

Yong Tsui attempted to entice passers-by into making an offer with assurances that his son, Fai, was a hard worker, The Daily Mail reports.

However, the auction came to a violent end after onlookers heard bidders asking how little they would have to feed the boy.

Several people attacked Mr Yong, with one putting him in a headlock until police arrived.

Mr Yong told officers in Wuhan, central China, that his wife had died three years ago and that he could no longer afford to take care of the boy.

"He has no job, no home and no money. He says he wasn't interested in the money, just finding a home for the boy," said police, who have put boy into care.

Mr Yong was reportedly inspired to auction his boy after reading about a rickshaw driver who chained his two-year-old son to a lamppost while he went out to work because he couldn't afford childcare.

Pictures of the toddler, Cheng Jingdan, were published around the world and led to nursery giving him a free place.



Child abduction and child slavery is rife in China.

Last week police in Wuhan freed two naked girls who had been locked in a basement for almost a year.

They were rescued after a repairman found a note they had managed to smuggle out in a broken television.