A Chinese woman who adopted more than 100 disabled and orphaned children has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for fraud.

Key points: Li claimed to have adopted 118 disabled and orphaned children

Li claimed to have adopted 118 disabled and orphaned children A statement from court said she used the construction of the orphanage to scam others

A statement from court said she used the construction of the orphanage to scam others The court also heard she used disabled children to conduct illegal activities

Li Yanxia, 54, owned an orphanage she named Love Village, and claimed to have adopted 118 children.

She became known in China in 2006 after local media picked up a story of her adopting dozens of children in her hometown.

She was given the with the nickname "love mother" for her philanthropic work.

Chinese media reports about her encouraged many to donate to her orphanage, with some also claiming she spent most of her wealth dealing with cancer.

A statement by the Wu'an court in Heibei published on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Wednesday said Li had used the excuse of building her orphanage to scam people of large sums of money.

It also said she used the children from the orphanage to conduct illegal activities.

The activities were said to include asking disabled children to disrupt construction work in Wu'an, causing severe financial loss to a construction company.

She was found guilty of extortion, fraud, forgery and disturbing social order and fined 2.67 million yuan ($559,200).

Fifteen others, including her partner, were also convicted, with some receiving jail terms of up to four years.

The court also found that Li forged corporate stamps and fabricated information to obtain a low income allowance.