Chinese provinces destroy 4 mln pirated publications

BEIJING - Chinese provinces and an autonomous region destroyed more than four million pirated or illegal publications on Thursday, two days ahead of World Intellectual Property Day.

The publications, including CDs and DVDs, software and illegal newspapers and magazines, were destroyed in the provinces of Yunnan, Jilin, Guizhou, Gansu and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Peng Gang, chief of the Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of Guangxi, said more campaigns would be launched this year to crack down on piracy and pornography.

China has shut down 110 websites as part of a national crackdown on online pornography, according to the State Internet Information Office.

Some 3,300 accounts on China-based social networking services, such as WeChat and Sina Weibo, as well as online forums, have been deleted in the recently launched "Cleaning the Web 2014" campaign.

China's Internet giant Sina.com has also been stripped of its online publication license, after articles and videos were found to be pornographic, according to a statement released on Thursday by the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications.