Gang-related crimes have been brought under effective control in Beijing since the city's public security bureau launched a special crackdown on gang-organized crimes last month.

So far, the police have smashed more than 20 gangs in the city and arrested about 200 suspects, a bureau report said.

The ongoing crackdown has also solved more than 50 gang-related criminal cases.

The crackdown began with a raid to the Haiyue Song and Dance Hall in southwest Beijing's Fengtai District on March 21.

A prior investigation showed that employees at the hall, such as security guards, had been involved in a number of gang-related crimes.

Armed policemen captured 19 "gangsters" suspected of various crimes at the hall and confiscated dozens of hacking knives and iron sticks.

Another raid in east Beijing's Chaoyang District broke up a gang of 12 members, police said.

The Ministry of Public Security issued a circular last month to urge local police bureaux to clean up entertainment venues, clamping down on gang-related crimes, drugs and prostitution.

"Gang-related crimes are on the rise in China, as society is going through tremendous economic and social reforms," Vice-Minister of Public Security Bai Jingfu said.

He said such crimes often happen at entertainment venues, restaurants and wholesale markets, and "strict checks at entertainment venues are crucial to the crackdown."

He warned that leaders of local public security bureaux were subject to dismissal if criminal gangs in their localities are crushed through reports to the ministry instead of through their own efforts.

The circular said venues that violate the regulation and are warned three times in two years would be shut down, and seedy venues with poor safety standards would also face being closed. Names of the entertainment venues that have received official warnings would be made public.

The order came two weeks after the Regulation on Administration of Entertainment Venues was enacted on March 1.

It stipulates that all disco halls must conduct security checks, and that entrances and main passages of all entertainment venues be monitored using closed-circuit TV.

It also states that all entertainment venues are off-limits to teenagers and may not operate between 2 and 8 AM.

(China Daily April 12, 2006)