China's Ministry of Public Security Sunday handed cash rewards to informers who have provided Chinese police with tips about pornographic Web sites, the ministry said in a statement.

Pornography is illegal in China and the police are in the midst of a campaign, begun in July, to crack down on Internet pornography and phone sex services.

By Oct. 8, the crackdown had generated 42,055 tips from the public, including 7,222 tips that were related to Internet pornography, MPS said. Based on this information, the Chinese police have shut down 1,125 pornographic sites and taken 445 suspects into custody, it said.

In total, 20 informers were given cash rewards, according to MPS. Three informers received rewards of 2,000 renminbi ($241) each, while 17 others received rewards of 500 renminbi each for providing information to the police. In addition, 30 informers received a non-cash reward of anti-virus software worth 200 renminbi, MPS said.

The informers were rewarded to further encourage people to tip off the police about Internet pornography and to recognize the important contributions that these 50 people had made to police efforts to stamp out Internet pornography, MPS said.

Among the people recently arrested in China for operating an Internet porn site was a 22-year-old university student surnamed Xie, who was arrested during July in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, according to the official Xinhua News Service. The report did not specify whether Xie's arrest was prompted by a tip to police.

In September, Xie was sentenced to four years in jail and was fined 20,000 renminbi for operating an pornographic Web site, Xinhua reported. Police also confiscated 160,000 renminbi that Xie, a computer science major at Zhejiang University of Technology, had earned through the Web site since March 2003, Xinhua reported.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.