China has shut down another 276 websites that contain pornographic and "lewd" materials, which brings the total number of closed websites to 1,911, the national Internet regulator said on Tuesday.

The crackdown against pornography and erotic materials, which was launched a month ago, has made "notable progress" but still faces many challenges, according to an unidentified official from the office for cracking down on online porn and lewd content.

Many sites had gotten around the warning by changing their Internet address or page appearances, an official said in a statement to Xinhua.

In a work meeting of the campaign held on February 6, authorities had vowed to further investigate and severely punish those who continue to run such websites in disregard of the warnings.

Internet access providers would be publicly identified and held responsible for failure to block such websites, said the official.

The authorities were also working on a reporting scheme to involve the public in monitoring online pornography, according to the office.

Individuals would get unspecified rewards for reporting porn websites to regulators, it said.

"Lewd" content includes violence, libel, private and other information that violates standards of public decency.

The office operates under seven government departments, including the State Council's Information Office and the ministries of Public Security and Culture, which jointly launched a nationwide crackdown campaign on porn websites in early January.

It later extended the campaign to mobile phone games, online novels, blogs, videos, radio programs, cell phone websites, chat rooms and instant messenger groups.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2009)