China shuts down 60,000 porn sites

China has shut down over 60,000 websites for their pornographic content since the government launched a crackdown in December 2009, an official statement has said.

The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications said some 1.7 million websites have also been checked since the launch of the campaign, according to the China Daily.

Around 2,200 cases of dissemination of online pornography were registered during this period, said the statement that added the office received over 160,000 porn-related tip-offs from the public.

About 526,000 yuan ($79,000) were paid to 516 informers, the office said.

China has the world's largest online population, with over 420 million netizens. People who use internet-enabled mobile phones has reached 277 million in the country.