China's largest pornographic website creator was sentenced to life imprisonment by the People's Court.
Taiyuan Intermediate People's Court handed down the sentence to Chen Hui and ordered him to pay 100,000 yuan (about $12,500).
Chen's other eight accomplices of the website were jailed for terms ranging from 13 months to ten years.
The nine were convicted of profiting from pornographic dissemination.
The website contained more than nine million pornographic images and articles and it had received more than 11 million hits.
Chen and his accomplices started the Qingseliuyuetian (pornographic summer) website in 2004 and opened three other porn websites, attracting more than 600,000 users.
A police source said it was difficult to know the profits made by them because most of the money was spent or saved in foreign bank accounts.
The police found about 200,000 yuan ($25,000) in their Chinese bank accounts.
Commercial space on the website sold for 1,000 to 3,000 yuan (about $125 to $375) per month.