China has shut down another 50 websites for containing porn and lewd content, bringing the total number of blocked ones to 91 since last Thursday.

Authorities have vowed to beef up crackdown efforts in the following days and urged law-breakers to voluntarily turn themselves in to local public security departments.

The sites closed on Saturday such as www.789b.com and www.678tp.cn have become inaccessible by Sunday.

They violated the top legislature's regulations and other laws regarding public distribution of sexual images, said a statement issued by the Special Operation Office for Crackdown on Online Porn and Lewd Content.

The month-long campaign to purify the Internet was launched last Monday by the State Council's Information Office, Public Security and Culture ministries as well as four other government agencies.

Public distribution of pornography is illegal in China. Last Friday, the office announced the shut-down of 41 such illegal websites.

Previously, it had named and shamed 33 websites, including search engine Google and Baidu and Microsoft's MSN China, for posting lewd content or offering links to pornographic sites.

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2008)