The appeal of a woman sentenced to death last year for trafficking 223 children has been heard, according to the Yunnan Provincial High Court.

Jiang Kaizhi, 52, was convicted in June of running a ring that trafficked 223 children from Yunnan to Henan province. Thirty-five accomplices, mostly her friends and relatives, received three-year to life sentences from the intermediate court in Qujing, Yunnan.

Jiang and her accomplices found their sentences overly harsh and appealed to the Yunnan Provincial High Court, said Ou Hongyan, publicity director at the Qujing court.