China’s Ministry of Culture said Tuesday it has launched a campaign against strip shows in rural areas to better regulate and rectify the rural performance market.

Following recent media exposure of several strip shows in east China’s Anhui Province, local law enforcement agencies have initiated investigations, said a ministry statement, without giving further details on the punishment.

Strip show is illegal in China. The ministry vowed to step up supervision and severely punish violators, adding that those involved will face criminal charges.

It also invited the public to offer clues of violations in the performance market. To report to the ministry, individuals and organizations can call 12318, or visit www.12318.gov.cn.

Ponds filled with industrial waste－about the size of 21 soccer fields－in Dacheng, Hebei Province, have been targeted for cleanup. [Photo/China Daily]

The Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Tuesday that it will supervise the treatment and restoration of polluted dump sites in Langfang, Hebei Province, and Tianjin’s Jinghai District.

The move came three days after pictures of two large dumping pits in Langfang’s Dacheng County went viral.

The two pits, measuring 170,000 and 30,000 square meters, accumulated waste of various types through years of illegal dumping of acidic waste and materials laced with heavy metals. The pollution has found its way into water and soil in the area, authorities said.

Hebei will treat all its polluted dumps by July following a comprehensive examination across the province, its environment watchdog announced on Monday.

All 13 cities in the province have been ordered to monitor the water quality near the pits and to identify the sources of pollution discharges, the Hebei Environmental Protection Bureau said.

If the water quality does not meet safety standards, further investigation of the soil in and around the dump sites will be carried out, possibly including checks of underground water quality, it said.

Waste handling will be checked at factories that discharge heavy metals and other hazardous pollutants. After the inspection, all polluted pits will be treated and good environmental conditions will be restored, the bureau said.

In addition, those discharging pollution will be held accountable, and government officials will be punished if they are found to have neglected their environmental duty.

Langfang’s Dacheng County has invited professionals from Tsinghua University, the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, and the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning to monitor the water and soil quality of the dump sites.

It also said it will take measures to curb pollution in towns and villages, and check on local factories that discharge acids.

The county has already punished eight government officials for failing to effectively control pollution.

Two waste treatment companies were contracted to bring the area’s water quality back to normal but they failed, according to the Dacheng government.

“It’s because they didn’t thoroughly figure out where the pollution came from and what the state of water quality was at the time,” Peng Yingdeng, an expert at the Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, was quoted as saying by Beijing News.

Peng said an overall examination is necessary. After that, the government can develop procedures for dealing with the pollution. Restoring water and soil to clean condition is costly and time-consuming, Peng added.

Similar polluted dump sites were also found in Tianjin’s Jinghai District.

According to the Tianjin Environmental Protection Bureau, the city has started an investigation and begun remedial treatment where necessary.

Zhao Xu, a Tianjin resident who majored in environmental engineering, said the governments’ reactions to the incident has been quick and serious.

“But what if the pits hadn’t been exposed?” Zhao asked.

Action must be taken before any harm is done to the public, Zhao said.

Liu Qibao (L), member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, and Matrai Marta, executive vice chairman of the Hungarian National Assembly, attend the release ceremony of the Hungarian version of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s book “Xi Jinping: the Governance of China” in Budapest, Hungary, on April 24, 2017. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

China’s bike-sharing fever has spread to Tibet, with 500 shared two-wheelers appearing on the plateau Thursday.

The fleets of bright yellow Ofo bikes have been placed in 22 spots in Xigaze, the region’s second largest city, said Lyu Shuang, the company’s regional manager.

“We hope shared bikes become low-carbon, cheap transport for locals and tourists alike in Tibet,” Lyu said, adding that the company’s next stop would be Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region.

The bike-sharing business, which took off in big Chinese cities last year, allows riders to hire bikes for as little as one yuan (about 15 U.S. cents) per hour via a mobile app and drop them off anywhere for the next user.

The bikes on the busy streets of Xigaze have attracted curious users. “It’s quite cheap, and really suitable for a short ride,” said citizen Cering, who with his friends rented a bike just for fun.

Backed by two-digit economic growth for over 20 years, car sales in Tibet have been booming. The underpopulated region now has 300,000 vehicles, with half of them in Lhasa.

However, the four-wheelers have led to traffic congestion and parking problems in downtown Lhasa.

Almost 60 percent of people in Taiwan are unhappy with the performance of the current administration led by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), a poll released by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed Monday.

The poll, which was conducted by telephone between April 17 and 18 among 1,082 adults age 20 and older, showed that 59.1 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the DPP’s performance, in comparison to the 35 percent who were satisfied.

Disapproval toward the DPP administration can be seen in people of different ages, occupations and regions across the island, said You Ying-lung, chairman of the foundation.

“For example, residents of all occupations, except farmers, expressed widespread criticism toward the DDP,” You noted.

The survey also showed about 46 percent of the public expressed dissatisfaction with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen’s performance, 11 months after she took office on May 20 last year. The rate is the second-highest in the foundations’s monthly poll.