A hair salon owner who advertised prostitution services online had his appeal for a lighter sentence rejected Monday.

The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court upheld the sentence of five years in jail for Zhao Qiang plus a 6,000-yuan (US$876) fine. His girlfriend Yang Xueqin had been sentenced to six years with a fine of 10,000 yuan. She didn't appeal the verdict.

Judges said the Internet has become a new platform for prostitution. In online "trades," pimps contact customers and prostitutes via the Internet so prostitutes don't have to find clients themselves. This is a popular way for foreign prostitutes to find clients, the court said.

Yang and Zhao used to be classmates in their hometown in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. They lived together after they came to the city and opened a hair salon in Minhang District at the end of 2007.

When the hairdressing business failed to make much money, they turned it into a base for prostitution after recruiting a few prostitutes, and took a percentage of their fees, the court was told.

The pair met four Russian women in a bar in March and agreed to act as their pimps by advertising online.

In one month, they sent 14 customers to the Russians, who operated from an apartment on Jinhui Road, and received a fee of 300 or 400 yuan each time.

On April 7, police raided the hair salon and caught some prostitutes and their clients.

Police also found mobile phone and online-chat records that led them to the Russians' prostitution activity.