The crackdown on gangs in Chongqing is taking its toll on the police force as well.

More than 7,000 officers have been working up to 16 hours a day without holidays - with several illnesses and even one death associated with overwork, the Chongqing Evening News reported.

"We don't know what a holiday is," a policeman in the Chongqing municipal police bureau was quoted by the newspaper as saying.