BEIJING, Oct. 28 -- Nude shows transmitted through online chat rooms are the latest target of a police crackdown and cases have been filed against 216 people in 94 incidents.

    The suspects face criminal charges of "arranging pornographic performances," Xu Jianzhuo, an official handling web security at the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), said yesterday.

    Two major targets of the campaign launched by the MPS, the State Council Information Office and the Ministry of Information Industry are online nude shows and pornographic websites, said Xu, deputy division chief at the ministry's Public Information and Web Security Supervision Bureau.

    Xu said illegal content providers mainly use two pornographic forms to attract netizens for quick profits: Arranging for performers to provide online nude shows; and luring Net surfers to engage in interactive nude performances.

    Cyber visitors easily fall prey to porn sites, X-rated chat rooms or other sexual materials online, he said.

    "Our chief concern this time is online pornographic performance organizers and performers," Xu said, adding the public gave 1,568 tip-offs in the last month, which resulted in a perceptible decline in the number of such sites.

    Xu revealed some of the cases police busted during a talk show broadcast live on Xinhua News Agency's website:

    One website in Hengshui in North China's Hebei Province provided nude shows daily since August 24 with 40 performers and organizers from 17 provinces.

    Eight suspects have been arrested so far, Xu revealed.

    Also in Hebei, a 16-year-old performed in a nude show.

    In Beijing, a 16-year-old participated in nude acts and was also an organizer.

    Han Yusheng, head of the Criminal Law Teaching and Research Section of the Renmin University of China, said in the same broadcast that online nude shows which are proliferating at an alarming rate can have a catastrophic social effect if uncurbed.

    For example, he said, increased online pornography exposure can have an adverse effect on children's studies and even lead them to crime.

    Net surfer Hong Xiu commended the crackdown. "I fully support the special campaign, which will be a strong deterrent on offenders."

    According to July figures from the China Internet Network Information Centre, the number of Chinese netizens has hit 103 million 8 per cent of the nation's total population using 45.6 million Internet-equipped computers. Among them, 15.8 per cent are minors while 55.1 per cent are in the 18-30 age range.

    (Source: China Daily)