China's Online Porn King Sentenced to Life in Prison

Chen Hui, the creator of China's largest pornographic Web site, was sentenced to life imprisonment Wednesday. Chen, 28, and his accomplices started the Qingseliuyuetian (pornographic summer) Web site in 2004 and opened three more porn Web sites, attracting more than 600,000 users.

The creator of China's largest pornographic Web site was sentenced to life imprisonment Wednesday.

Judges at the Taiyuan Intermediate People's Court handed down the sentence to Chen Hui and ordered the confiscation of 100,000 yuan (US$12,500).

The other eight organizers of the Web site were jailed for terms ranging from 13 months to 10 years.

The nine were convicted of profiting from pornographic dissemination.

Apart from one who is over 50, the average age of the other eight criminals is just 23.

Chen, 28, and his accomplices started the Qingseliuyuetian (pornographic summer) Web site in 2004 and opened three more porn Web sites, attracting more than 600,000 users.

A police source said it was difficult to know the exact illegal profits of the Web site because most of the money was spent or saved in foreign bank accounts.

The police found about 200,000 yuan ($25,000) in the Chinese bank accounts of the nine.

A member of the public complained to city police on June 21 last year that a hospital Web site had changed to become the homepage of a porn Web site.

Police questioned the administrator of the Web site, Wang Jianfei, who allegedly admitted he was in charge of the "Qingseliuyuetian" Taiyuan section.

Three months later, police in the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Jilin, Liaoning, Anhui and Hubei arrested Chen and other organizers.

All the servers of "China's largest adult community" were based overseas and Chen regularly changed the Web site's domain name, servers and Internet provider address, the police said.

At first, the four Web sites accepted about 200,000 registered members free of charge, but demanded 199 to 266 yuan ($25 to $33) in registration fees from people who joined later.

Some paid more for a life membership. According to the police, a "top-level VIP membership" sold at 3,999 yuan ($500).

Commercial space on the Web site sold for 1,000 to 3,000 yuan ($125 to $375) per month.

On Oct. 3, 2005, when the Web site was closed down, the registered members exceeded 600,000 around China.

The Web site contained more than 9 million pornographic images and articles and it had received more than 11 million clicks.