Cultural authorities in this?Guangzhou?city?have
vowed to step up their crackdown on illegal trading of optical
discs containing nude photos of Hong Kong actor/singer Edison Chen
Kwoon-hei and several other celebrities.
"Optical discs containing the illicit photos have been available
in local markets since the scandal broke in January," said Mo
Zhihong, deputy director of the Guangzhou cultural market and
law-enforcement department.
Mo said the cultural authorities have been working with police
to inspect local major audio and video markets.
Yesterday, the Guangzhou cultural market and law-enforcement
authority confiscated more than 300 such optical discs, said
Mo.
"We will soon conduct a citywide inspection campaign on audio
and video shops in order to get such immoral products out of the
market," said Mo.
At the downtown Liwan District Electronics Market, optical discs
labeled "hot celebrity nude photos" were sold at 10-40 yuan each in
some shops.
"Usually, we sell this kind of products at a price of just 5
yuan. But this incident - Chen's nude photo scandal - has been so
hot," said an unnamed shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper said "supplies have been very tight" in the local
market. "So we have to increase the price," he said.
He added that there have been teenagers coming to buy the discs.
"They know all the celebrities involved in the scandal," he
said.
Parents have been worried about the negative effects that such
photos would bring to their children.
"My son used to be very keen on Gillian Chung, one of the
celebrities involved in the sex photo scandal," said Huang Qiuxia,
a 45-year-old mother.
"I have once asked him not to log onto the Internet in case he
would see the photos. But now I am more concerned that he might buy
the discs. They are everywhere," Huang said.
Meanwhile in Dongguan, cultural authorities have also started
inspecting audio and video markets, said Chen Zhiman, a local
cultural official.
"Many of the discs have been brought in from Guangzhou and
Shenzhen, we will work closely with our Guangzhou and Shenzhen
counterparts to stamp out the trade," the cultural official
said.
(China Daily HK Edition February 22, 2008)
