China has added ghosts, monsters and other things that go bump in the
night to its list of banned video and audio content in an intensified
crackdown ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Producers have around three weeks to look through their tapes for
"horror" and report it to authorities, the General Administration of
Press and Publications said in a statement posted on the government Web
site.

Offending content included "wronged spirits and violent ghosts,
monsters, demons, and other inhuman portrayals, strange and
supernatural storytelling for the sole purpose of seeking terror and
horror," the administration said.

The new guidelines aim to "control and cleanse the negative effect
these items have on society, and to prevent horror, violent, cruel
publications from entering the market through official channels and to
protect adolescents’ psychological health."

The regulations suggest China, where graphic, pirated sex and horror
movies are available on most street corners, is keen to step up its
control of the cultural arena ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August,
which are widely seen as a coming-out party for the rising political
and economic power.

They come just weeks after Beijing clamped down on "vulgar" video
and audio content, slapped restrictions on Internet sites and handed
down a two-year film-making ban to the team behind the steamy "Lost in
Beijing."

Via Reuters