BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- While their parents used to fumble through imported magazines for a glimpse of a scantily clad woman, the Chinese youth of today can locate hardcore pornography at a click of a mouse.

    "What I learn in computing lessons at school is enough for me to find anything I want on the Internet," said one Beijing junior high school student who only wanted to be identified by his nickname, Ah Pang.

    Of China's 144 million Internet users, 23 million are under 18 years of age, and 46 percent of them admit to having visited pornographic sites, according to the latest statistics.

    "Sometimes, a dirty picture suddenly pops up to the screen when I am visiting a normal site," said one of Ah Pang's schoolmates who also refused to give his name. When asked whether he had deliberately tried to locate pornography sites, he avoided the question.

    Since April, ten government agencies have jointly carried out a campaign to purge the Web of "unhealthy content". By May 15, it has resulted in the shutdown of nearly 5,000 websites, more than 270 arrests and removal of 160,000 pieces of "obscene and pornographic" materials, according to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

    "Online pornography is rubbish and "spiritual criminals" that pervert young minds," said Liu Binjie, head of the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP), a few days before the International Children's Day.

    "Students are easily influenced and perverted by such information as they are still in their formative years and do not have a solid hold on their values," said vice-minister of education Li Weihong.

    GAPP has sent inspection teams to Internet cafes to monitor the spread of harmful information and the educational ministry has opened a section on its website for the public to report on "illegal" websites.

    Chinese officials have justified the crackdown by attributing arising crime rate among teenagers to exposure to pornography.

    MPS spokesman Wu Heping said in April that preliminary statistics showed that 80 percent of juvenile delinquents had been negatively influenced by violence and pornography on the Internet.

    Sun Yunxiao, director of Chinese Youth and Children Research Center, called for establishing an online information rating system and parental guidance to protect children from pornography.