The Bobai county court in China's southwest Guangxi province recently sentenced the two men, whose names were given as Li and Peng, to one and two years in prison respectively, according to Xinhua.

Bobai was at the centre of violent clashes between farmers and police in May that were sparked when residents rebelled against austere measures aimed at punishing those who had violated family planning measures.

Authorities tried to impose heavy fines, sparking thousands in Guangxi to burn property, ransack government offices and fight pitched battles with police.

Citing court documents, Xinhua said an angry Peng had tried to incite residents to "retaliate" against the government for its family planning policies.

It said that Peng and Li had taken county seals and created and distributed photocopied documents that promised the government would refund charges imposed related to the one-child policy.

"This had a malicious effect on the work of the government's family planning policy," Xinhua said.

China has since the 1970s enforced strict family planning measures to control its population, which at 1.3 billion people, is the world's biggest.

Reports of abuse by authorities enforcing the law such as forced late-term abortions and forced sterilisations, as well as arbitrary fines, are common.

Usually, China's urban dwellers are allowed one child, while rural families can have two if the first child is a girl.

The rich and ruling Communist Party officials, however, often ignore the law themselves or pay the necessary fines.