China's police ministry on Sunday handed out rewards of up to US$240 to people who reported pornographic Web sites in a campaign to stamp out online smut, the government said.

Some 445 people have been arrested and 1,125 Web sites shut down with the help of public tips since July, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the Ministry of Public Security.

The ministry handed out rewards of US$60 to US$240, Xinhua said, but it didn't say how many people received them.

China encourages Internet use for education and business but bans sexually oriented content on its own Web sites and tries to block access to foreign pornographic sites.

The online crackdown is intended to create a green and user-friendly cyberspace in China and to boost the morality.

Television stations, video game makers and other suppliers of popular culture have been told to reduce or eliminate violent or sexually oriented content.

(China Daily October 11,2004)