The Ministry of Culture Thursday has vowed to closely monitor performances in the countryside after discovering striptease shows in two villages earlier this year.
According to the ministry, obscene performances at two funerals at Cheng'an county, Hebei Province and Shuyang county, Jiangsu Province attracted more people, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
A statement by the ministry said such practice distorts the cultural value of the entertainment business and such acts are uncivilized.
A ministry official said that publicizing the two cases sends a warning to operators of such performances.
The ministry will enhance supervision on the cultural market and crack down on illegal commercial operations including the staging of striptease shows, the official said, adding that a blacklist of illegal business operators in the cultural market will be exposed.
A netizen who saw a striptease performance at a funeral in Cheng'an on February 15 posted several photos online of strippers wearing sexy dresses and boots dancing while young children watched.
The organizer was detained for 15 days and paid a fine of 70,000 yuan ($11,287).
In Shuyang county, Jiangsu three performers at a strip show on February 27 have been charged.
Reports said many villages traditionally hold a big funeral where cultural companies would show a striptease. Residents used to hire local opera performers at funerals. However, striptease dancers are gradually taking over, with local residents spending large sums of money to show them off to others, a Henan resident previously told the Global Times.
Striptease shows are illegal in China. Such performances at funerals highlight the trappings of modern life in China, Xinhua said.
Local culture departments will work with public security and industry and commerce departments to inspect such performances in the countryside, the ministry said.
