Illegal karaoke bars shut down

DONGGUAN: Middle-aged mother Wei Huating in this Pearl River Delta boomtown is happy to find that her 17-year-old son stays at home at night these days instead of going out to the karaoke (KTV) bars nearby.

"He used to spend almost every night at the KTV bars with his friends, which I really worried about," she told China Daily yesterday. "I appreciate the local government's recent move to close down the unlicensed KTV bars."

She heard on several occasions that many of the KTV bars are unlicensed and may be prone to fires.