Chinese entertainment city launches sex trade crackdown

The southern Chinese city of Dongguan, a booming entertainment hub, launched a harsh crackdown on underground prostitution on Sunday following the week-long Spring Festival holiday.

Dongguan, seated in the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province, is famous for its massive, lavish casino resorts, bath centers, and massage parlors, as well as its backstreet brothels.

China's Ministry of Public Security and the provincial public security department on Sunday dispatched special teams to crack down on the city's rampant illegal sex trade.

As of Monday morning, 12 entertainment venues involved in prostitution and other sexual services had been closed and 67 people had been investigated after China Central Television exposed the city's Spring Festival sex trade on Sunday.

Local police stations are being investigated for dereliction of duty or failing to respond to informants' reports of the sex trade in illegal entertainment sites.

The director of a local public security bureau and director of a police station were suspended pending investigation, according to the Dongguan municipal public security bureau.

The provincial public security department will launch a sweeping crackdown on pornography and gambling sites across Guangdong. Local police who provide protection to the sex trade industry will be severely punished, according to the provincial government.