Beijing Straightens out Entertainment VenuesA city-wide 10-day campaign to straighten out entertainment venues in Beijing was launched as of Tuesday night.In an interview with Xinhua Wednesday, a spokesman from the General Law and Order Section of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau explained that the campaign was meant to fortify the achievements from last year's six-month action to screen and rectify cultural and entertainment venues, and to purify these places for the forthcoming Spring Festival, which falls on January 24. Last year's action, which began last April in accordance with the unified arrangement of the State Council, were concentrated on striking hard against social evils such as prostitution and gambling at the cultural and entertainment places, said the spokesman. Beijing had more than 11,000 cultural and entertainment venues. Through last year's action, 5,123 venues found to operate without business permits were banned, while business licenses of the rest were renewed. In that action, another 600 entertainment venues in the urban districts, which had business permits but were found to have problems, were told to stop business for correction or to shift to other services. But recently, the police have found that seven percent of these venues continued to do business illegally without mending the existing problems. The ten-day campaign will put an end to that and ensure a good order at Beijing's cultural and entertainment places throughout the traditional Spring Festival season, said the spokesman. |
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