Police would not immediately comment on the blog and requested an inquiry in writing.

China has quickly developed the world's second-largest population of Internet users after the United States, with more 123 million people online. Meanwhile, nine people went on trial this week for operating what is being called China's largest pornographic Web site, boasting more than 9 million pornographic images and articles viewed by 600,000 registered members.

The site, named "Pornographic Summer," was based overseas and operators regularly changed its domain name and switched servers and IP address to avoid detection, the Xinhua News Agency said.

The men collected up to 266 yuan (US$33) from about 400,000 paying subscribers, Xinhua said, with the first 200,000 who joined paying nothing.

It said the trial began Wednesday in the northern city of Taiyuan, but didn't say what penalties the men face.

In China, as elsewhere, widespread Internet use has also facilitated online fraud and cyber-vigilantism.

In one well-known case, an angry husband who suspected his wife was having an affair with a college student called for help tracking him down. The student, who denied the accusation, was bombarded with harassing and threatening e-mails.

Despite the outrage among many Chinese, Chinabounder had at least one fan.

An overseas-born ethnic Chinese woman set up a site "Chinabounderess," that among other postings praises Chinabounder as a strong writer with a good knowledge of Chinese history.

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