After China Central Television reported on the rampant sex trade in Dongguan, Guangdong province, the local police, employing a reported 6,000-strong force in all, launched a crackdown on suspected entertainment venues and arrested 67 persons for further investigation.

But as well as praise, the crackdown has also generated some concern that it has targeted the prostitutes but seldom those behind them. It needs to be made clear that as a basic principle, those who have organized and run the illegal sex industry, not the sex workers, are being targeted, says a Beijing News editorial.

Most reports about previous crackdowns on the sex industry show they have focused on the women working in the industry; and typically the media have accompanied their reports with images of policemen controlling scantily clad young women as if they were dangerous criminals. The recent CCTV reports on Dongguan followed this tradition.