BEIJING – The creator of China’s largest pornographic Web site was jailed for life on Wednesday, state media reported.

Xinhua News Agency said judges at the Taiyuan Intermediate People’s Court in Shanxi province gave the life sentence to Chen Hui and handed down terms of 13 months to 10 years to eight others after they were convicted of profiting from pornographic dissemination.

Chen, 28, and his accomplices started the Qingseliuyuetian (Pornographic Summer) Web site in 2004, and opened a further three porn Web sites, attracting more than 600,000 users.

Xinhua reported that police said it was difficult to know the exact amount of profits the Web site earned. Police found about 200,000 yuan ($25,000) in the bank accounts of the nine.

When the site was closed in October last year, it contained more than 9 million pornographic images and articles, the police said.

China has the world’s second-largest population of Internet users after the United States, with more than 123 million people online.

The government encourages Internet use for education and business, but strictly controls content and tries to block access to material deemed pornographic or subversive.