Keepin' it clean

Pornography is illegal in China, a rule that extends to erotic literature, and e-publishers have to work hard to stay ahead of the booming underground market in provocative writing. Mei Jia reports.

E-publishing has meant new content is available on a daily basis for ferocious readers, but for Web-lit editors like Li Xiaoliang, the rapid pace of publishing means he must check hundreds of e-books a day to ensure they are free of "pornography" and other illegal content.

Li and his colleagues are assisted by computer programs to scan the books, but they still need to add new words or new combinations of words into the system every day to stay ahead of the porn writers.