China has launched a nationwide crackdown on "illegal terrifying publications" such as "Death Note" to clean up publications market ahead of Children's Day, according to a government circular.

 

"Death Note", one of the horror tales the government has ordered off the shelves, has been read by many primary school students, according to the circular issued by the National Office for Cleaning Up Pornography and Fighting Illegal Publications.

 

"It contains elements of mystery, death and revenge, which is harmful to children's psychological development," it said.

 

"It elaborates on different scaring ways of dying -- it will even make adults feel uneasy, let alone children who are still psychologically immature," said a Beijing municipal government official.

 

The municipal government has received numerous complains from parents and educators who says students are spending too munch time reading the horror stories and not enough time studying, said the official.

 

The circular orders local governments to confiscate the publications by hunting down the books in book stores and street vendors, especially around schools, and to give heavy penalties to their publishing houses.

 

A previous crackdown has confiscated 2,409 "Death Note" books, 366 horror CDs and DVDs and 1,018 other illegal horror books across the country.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2007)