A young man is regretting what he called a joke, and one that others just didn't find funny - putting his baby niece up for sale on the Internet.

"I realized I was wrong in doing that. I already said I'm sorry to my sister, and I hope people don't disturb her," the man surnamed Yu, from Zhangshu city of Jiangxi province, told China Daily.

The 25-year-old became a popular target of online discussion in the last few days after someone found he had put an advertisement on taobao.com, the most popular platform for online shopping in China, offering his baby niece for 1 yuan (14 cents).