China's press watchdog has demanded 122 websites stop offering online reading and downloading services of fiction with lewd and pornographic content.

An unnamed official with the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) said Thursday that those websites failing to comply would be shut down.

The websites include: www.xiaoshuo.com, www.b.faloo.com and www.junzitang.com, among others.

As part of its nationwide crackdown on pornography, the GAPP has, since December 2009, periodically publicized a list of websites found to be offering pornographic contents. Earlier this month, Chinese police announced the detention of 62 people after breaking up a pornography website in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

While the alleged ringleader, surnamed Zhang, was seized in Beijing, the other suspects, mainly administrators and forum moderators of the website, were detained in about 20 provinces and regions during a follow-up operation.