China started a special website Thursday for people to report illegal and unhealthy on-line information in a bid to create a better cultural environment for juveniles.

According to the guide on the website, any Chinese citizen who found illegal or unhealthy information on line can report the website, which must be in China, to the website of net.China.cn.

The reporters' rights would be well protected and the Work Committee of Internet News Information Service would deal with the report, said Cai Mingzhao, vice director of the Information Office of the State Council, at Thursday's opening ceremony.

The website was started as part of the efforts to build Internet into an important medium of advanced culture and also an important step to clear the environment around juveniles, said Cai.

The tenet of the website is to "report illegal information, protect public interest".

Internet has been developing very fast since it came into Chinaten years ago. By the end of this year, China is expected to have nearly 100 million netizens, said Cai.

At present, major news websites and famous commercial websites attracted 95 percent of the on-line visits in China. However, a few other websites post fake or erotic information and spread superstitions.

The juveniles are especially vulnerable to these and Internet addiction has become very serious, said Hu Qiheng, board director of the Internet Society of China.

The unhealthy information on line not only brought harm to the society, but also harmed the public credit of Internet media, said Cai Mingzhao.

Cai urged all the Internet media to improve self management and to be responsible for the society.

The website of China Report Center of Illegal and Unhealthy Information is set up and run by the Work Committee of the Internet News Information Service under the Internet Society of China.

Established in December, 2003, the work committee is a national organization of Internet news information service.

(People's Daily June 11, 2004)