Progress seen in crackdown on improper children's books

China's antipornography office publicized a series of cases on Sunday, uncovered in an ongoing campaign against explicit content in children's publications. In one case, police in southwest China's Guizhou Province shut down an unregistered comics website which carried works that "showed sexual organs and promoted homosexuality, gore, violence and obscenity," the office said. Jointly initiated by five departments including the Ministry of Education and the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the action clamps down on sellers of illegal children's publications with violent or erotic content. According to the office, websites presenting similar material are also a target. Book markets near middle and primary schools are a special focus. Other cases involved unlicensed publishing, pirated books and illegal tabloids and disks with pornographic content.