Cover for banned online comic Sexxxy Girl issue 52. Photo: http://www.xcmh.cc/c/shimei/210855.html

After announcing that it would increase regulation of animation, comic and game (ACG) content in December of 2014, the Ministry of Culture has recently published the results of its investigations into troublesome behavior by ACG sites online.

According to the report, nine comic websites, including comic.qq.com, dm.189.cn and mkzhan.com, have offered online comics featuring violence and behavior that goes against standards of public morality, resulting in the Ministry ordering these sites to delete this content, while also confiscating all income earned from this content. In addition, some violators were required to pay an extra fine of 10 to 30 thousand yuan ($1,600-4,800) and cease online services for a period of time.

Among those in violation of Ministry regulations, comic.qq.com was required to delete 13 comics due to their containing pornographic or violent images, text and comments that run counter to accepted social values, while also having to shut down its VIP channel for a period of 10 days.

The Ministry of Culture also ordered 10 comic sites, including nanacm.com and gy456.com, to be shut down for running online cultural businesses without a license or for offering pirated content.

At the time of this writing, the former site is no longer in service, while the latter still offers links to some animated works.

In addition, 13 companies were fined for offering apps featuring gambling, pornographic or violent content on their platforms.

Shock value

The new regulations by the Ministry of Culture started to have an impact as early as November.

One of the 13 - Shi Mei (lit. wet sister) or Sexxxy Girl in English, known for its sexual content - follows a male high school student as he navigates the complicated relationships he has with several different girls from different countries.

In November, the title's author, Shixiong, announced on his personal micro-blog that he had been ordered to cease publication of the work.

Meanwhile, another comic author, Vivian Tianzong, whose racy comic Jiejie Meimei Yiqi Shang was also deleted from comic.qq.com, began a new comic serial at the end of December, which she emphasized was a "pure love" story and called upon her readers to not associate the comic with her previous work.

Some comics have been given an alternative to deletion.

Seven comics, including the popular Zombie Brother were given the chance to revise their content in keeping with regulations.

A highly promoted series on comic.qq.com, Zombie Brother first began in December of 2011, earning over 3 billion views online as of March 2013.

An animated adaptation of the comic book series was launched online in January 2013.

Episodes from the first series of this adaptation can still be seen online.

The show's director, Lu Hengyu, who also directs the animated series A Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes, told the Global Times on Monday that they have not received any notices ordering them to adjust the show's content. According to Lu, required changes so far are limited to the comic version.

"When we adapted the series, we changed some content from the original comics, such as content related to politics or religion," added Lu, explaining a possible reason for why the animated series has avoided running up against regulations.

According to Lu, he feels that ACG material doesn't need to feature strong sexual content or violence to be popular.

"Three years ago, before people were used to actively read or watch Chinese animation or comics online, some comics featured strong content in order to grab people's attention. But now, more people care about Chinese animation and comics, and so are beginning to demand well-produced works and really tense stories," Lu told the Global Times.