[File photo]

Beijing police performed checks at several entertainment venues on Dec. 23, resulting in the shuttering of three nightclubs and the arrests of hundreds of people suspected to be involved in prostitution.

Working on tips, Beijing police raided numerous venues and arrested several hundred people at Baoli Club in Beijing’s Dongcheng district and two other clubs in Haidian district. The case is currently under investigation, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said in a statement on its Sina Weibo account on Dec. 25.

A search for Baoli Club on Dianping, China's largest consumer rating site, yielded over 50 comments, with clients claiming that average expenses in the club range from 2,500 to 3,500 RMB, including “service fees” for female staff. The club’s information had been removed from the review site as of press time.

According to Beijing Youth Daily, Baoli Club is a “top-notch” private club in Beijing, whose clients are “famous entrepreneurs and celebrities, both from within and outside of China.” The club recruited female "models” aged 16 to 28, who were asked to work from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. in exchange for daily paychecks.

This crackdown on prostitution is one of the largest in Beijing, after the notorious Passion Club was shut down in 2010. Beijing police raided thousands of entertainment venues that year, detaining 1,132 people and striking a blow to the city’s sex industry, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

According to the Regulations on the Management of Entertainment Venues, venues that offered sexual services will be forced to close for between three and six months.