BEIJING - A man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for operating a pornographic website via a US-based web server, the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications said in a statement issued Friday.

The statement said China has maintained a heavy-handed approach in clamping down on the spread of pornography through Internet and mobile phones, improving its ability to keep an eye on domestic websites that use overseas servers to host pornographic content.

The statement mentioned the case of Sheng Jiarong, a man from the city of Qingdao in East China's Shandong province. Sheng was found to be operating a pornographic website via a US server for the purpose of reaping advertising revenues.

His website was found to have 703 pornographic photos, 9,111 erotic e-novels and 99 videos during an online crackdown campaign in early 2011.

A district court in Qingdao has sentenced Sheng to 10 years in prison, as well as given him a fine of 20,000 yuan ($3,176).