Nearly 500 websites across China were reported to have published pornographic content as the country launched a nationwide campaign to clean up online content, a senior official said in Beijing Sunday.

Cai Mingzhao, deputy director of the Information Office of the State Council, said an official online reporting center has received 22,000 reports filed by the general public since the center was set up earlier this month.

About 95 percent of the reports are on websites having pornographic content, and officials confirmed that nearly 500 of the websites published pornographic pictures, film clips and recorded video messages, said Cai.

Cai demanded news and commercial websites to erase their pornographic contents by the end of September, or face cancellation of their licenses to publish news stories.

Hundreds of Chinese websites, including the most influential ones, publish indecent and even pornographic content to attract readers, which have been the focus of complaints from many parents and educators as the contents are bad for minors and youth.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2004)