A nationwide campaign against pornography on the web that was launched on July 16 by the Ministry of Public Security and 13 other agencies has already shut down hundreds of sites.

By July 25, 151 investigations had been opened and 134 resolved. A total of 224 apprehensions had been made, with 177 people detained, 15 released on bail and 32 approved for arrest.

Between July 16 and 25, 700 porn websites were shut down by public security bureaus in major cities across the country like Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenyang and Guangzhou.

Public security officials are targeting people involved in six types of operations in this campaign: those who operate websites containing pornography; people who produce, purchase and issue pornographic films, videotapes and photos; those who organize chatroom porn performances; individuals who provide foreign pornography website links; people who provide minors with porn information or activities; as well as people who organize or introduce crimes like gambling and prostitution through the Internet.

"With the monitoring of the pornography information on websites reinforced, the bureaus of public security have been able to shut down a number of websites," said Wu Mingshan, a veteran Ministry of Public Security official and vice director of the National Campaign Against Pornographic Websites Coordination Group Office. "Chinese ISPs, ICPs and Internet cafes are requested to establish and enhance their security monitoring systems. They are also required to install security software to improve their preventive measures."

(China.org.cn July 28, 2004)