China is to launch a fresh crackdown on online pornography during the upcoming Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, holidays.

Efforts would be focused on mobile WAP sites which spread lewd content, according to a statement by the National Anti-Pornography and Anti-Illegal Publications Office on Monday.

The crackdown will run from early February to late April.

The statement urged local authorities to step up efforts to crack cases involving online pornography before and during the upcoming festival. Companies and individuals who were found guilty of distributing pornography would be punished and details would be made public, it said.

China has focused on combating online porn in recent years.

More than 15,000 pornographic websites in the country, including some 11,000 mobile WAP sites, were shut down or blocked in 2009.