BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Beijing has launched a campaign from March to July this year to slam rampant bicycle theft, according to a government announcement.

    According to the announcement, Beijing police will organize 500 brigades to inspect repair shops, recycling stations, bicycle markets and areas where stolen bikes were usually traded.

    Li Runhua, a municipal security official, said people who knowingly store or trade-stolen bicycles face heavy fines and even criminal charges.

    Those who provide the police with clues about bicycle thefts can receive a maximum award of 5,000 yuan (about 645 U.S. dollars), he said.

    The municipal construction commission has ordered all communities to be constructed with enough parking lots for bicycles and to assign personnel to keep an eye on the bicycles.

    Other measures include inscribing serial numbers on new bicycles, real-name registration for transactions, and establishing a database of thieves.

    Beijing has registered over seven million bicycles, and it received over 30,000 theft reports from its citizens last year, with an average daily theft of 40 bicycles.

    The city police has listed 20 areas, most within the downtown districts encircled by the second to the third ring roads, as highly prone to bicycle thefts.

    Previously, China's six ministries have teamed up to tackle the problem of rising bicycle theft as it increasingly perturbs the majority of the Chinese households.

    Known as the "bicycle kingdom", China is home to a world-record470 million bicycles. Bicycle theft is daunting -- nearly 4 million bikes are stolen a year in China.