Chinese police have received more than 13,000 reports concerning pornographic material on the Internet since the nation launched a campaign to restrict the spread of online pornography on April 12.
China has roughly 123 million Internet users, most of whom are young people. The number of reports about pornographic websites has increased from around 300 to nearly 700 every day. Furthermore, 31 percent of reports received by police in this period were about pornographic websites, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
"The fight against pornographic websites has won wide support from Chinese people," said an MPS official.
"I'm disgusted by the pornographic material on the Internet and deeply worried about the impact on children," said a computer teacher who preferred to be addressed only as "Jiang." Jiang spoke of the growing concern among citizens from east China's Zhejiang Province.
"We really need to crack down on Internet crimes and pornography and create a clean and healthy cyberspace for youngsters," Jiang continued.
Wu Heping, spokesman of the MPS, said preliminary statistics indicate nearly 80 percent of juvenile delinquents have been lured into crime by evil content on the Internet. "In a high proportion of cheating, rape, or robbery cases involving young people, the Internet is a factor," Heping said.
Chinese police last week said they arrested a 21-year-old student for running five pornographic websites with 210,000 registered users. Police also announced they had closed 1,450 porn websites and deleted more than 30,000 obscene messages online since the launch of the campaign.
During a six-month period, the campaign by the MPS and nine other government departments will crack down on illegal online activities such as distributing pornographic materials and organizing Web-based strip shows, and purge the Web of sexually explicit images, stories, and audio and video clips.
The campaign also will target illegal online lotteries and contraband trade, fraud, and "content that spreads rumors and is of a slanderous nature."
China has come under strong criticism from human rights groups for tightening controls on the Internet, which the groups say have adversely affected academic freedom, commercial exchanges, and ordinary communication.
