China cracks down on its 'sex capital'

BEIJING (AP) — A state TV expose on prostitution in China’s “sex capital” and an ensuing, much-publicized police crackdown has drawn criticism from the public, who expressed sympathy for the sex workers and suggested that authorities target other kinds of wrongdoing.

Coverage of the weekend raid by 6,500 officers in the southern city of Dongguan — filled with images of handcuffed women with their heads bowed — spurred many people to post comments online that were more critical of the China Central Television broadcaster’s reporting and the crackdown than the prostitution it uncovered.