Monserrat Morilles, 26, a stripper who dances on the streets, performs on a lamp post in Valparaiso city, about 75 miles (120 km) northwest of Santiago, July 30, 2008. [Agencies]

A VIDEO was recently spread online showing a so-called performance group doing a striptease at a 3-year-old's birthday party in Fuyang, Anhui province. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Culture announced that it has asked the local culture department to investigate and co-work with the police to crack down on illegal activities. Legal Daily comments:

The Ministry of Culture should be praised for its timely response. However, more measures must be taken to root out the problem.

There have been quite a number of reports about such "performance artists" not only in Fuyang or Anhui province as a whole, but in many rural areas nationwide. The situation calls for stricter regulation by the culture authorities.

Rural residents do not favor such performances more than their urban counterparts, but they have fewer entertainment choices. For example, while urban residents can go to a cinema in the evening, rural residents have nowhere to go.

The culture authorities must crack down on the obscene performances, but at the same time they need to encourage more healthy cultural performances in rural regions.

In order to accomplish that, more government investment is needed. For a long time, there has been a gap in the amount of cultural investment in urban and rural regions. The governments at various levels must increase their spendings on public cultural facilities in rural regions, so that farmers can enjoy normal cultural performances.

Besides, the best way of driving bad money out of the market is to introduce good money. When the local culture departments pay more attention and organize performers to provide more high-quality cultural products, there will be no market for the obscene ones in the rural areas.