He was arrested last month after another boy escaped.

By yesterday, more than 70 reporters from 30 news agencies had registered with officials in Zhumadian to cover the trial.

Xue Zhenyu, a reporter with the Xian-based Huashang News, said the media had been followed and intercepted by police when they arrived to cover the murders.

'The change in the local government's attitude is so surprising,' said Xue. It came after five Pingyu officials - the heads of police, education, the cultural bureau and the headmasters of two secondary schools - were fired.

The trial will open in Pingyu County People's Court, with senior judge Yuan Yongxin presiding.

Lu Dequan, the father of the first victim, Lu Ningbo, who was murdered in September 2001, said he and his wife would attend.

'I still feel very sad although I should be glad that the trial is starting,' said Mr Lu. 'But I will control my emotions and not show them in front of Huang. I want him to know that he should feel guilty for what he did.'

Parents of some of the victims complained that police in Pingyu did little when they filed missing persons reports. Officers only began to take the cases seriously after several parents went to Beijing last September to seek help from the central government.

'We will sue,' said Mr Lu. 'But we haven't decided how or against who yet.'

Huang's case is the second of three recent serial murder cases to come to trial in the past month.

Last month, Ma Yong from Hunan province and his girlfriend Duan Zhiqun were sentenced to death for murdering 12 young female job-seekers in Shenzhen. Yang Xinhai, who allegedly killed 67 people in four provinces in the past two years, is also expected to be tried soon.