The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) sent notice to provincial TV stations that broadcasters "must not air any vulgar content involving sexual experiences or the function of sex toys and birth control devices, effective immediately."
Reuters reported that the order followed the cancellation of several TV programs featuring plastic surgery and public participation in sex-change operations.
The SARFT recently banned two radio shows that the government considered to be "extremely pornographic."
"The programs contained extremely pornographic material, caused great harm to the psychological development of young people, fouled the social air and damaged the reputation of China's broadcasting institutions," the SARFT report said.
And in April, the government launched a six-month campaign against online adult content, enabling strict filtering devices in the hopes that no sexual content would reach the computer screens of its citizens, especially young adults.
"The boom of pornographic content on the Internet has contaminated cyberspace and perverted China's young minds," said Zhang Xinfeng, a deputy public security minister.
The Xinhua state news agency reported that one-third of juvenile detainees at the Beijing Reformatory for Juvenile Delinquents were influenced by erotic websites, among other things, when they committed crimes, including rape.
