According to a survey, books with pornographic and violent content can be found in almost all of Taiwan's book-lending stores, the National Publication Appraisal Council of the ROC (NPAC, 中華民國出版品評議基金會) announced yesterday.
The study found that 99.2 percent of book-lending stores displayed piles of pornographic comics, magazines and photo albums and also allowed teenagers to read, borrow and buy them.
Children under the age of 18 in Taiwan are not legally allowed to purchase or look at pornography.
In addition, of the 124 surveyed stores, only 3.3 percent of them classified their materials in accordance with criteria laid down by the Government Information Office (GIO,
Hsu Wen-pin (
Hsu appealed to parents to watch their children closely during their days off school.
"Spring vacation is coming up and schools will have about 10 days off. I think parents should be more concerned about their children, and pay attention to what they are doing during this time," said Hsu.
Hsu also warned about the huge quantity of pornography. "Every month, on average, some 3.6 million pornographic romance novels are published. That figure doesn't include comic books and photo albums," Hsu said.
Chen Pong-kung (
"But at first we hope that we are able to persuade bookstore operators to stop this practice," said Chen.
According to Chen, if a book was identified as "under-age prohibited," the book should be sealed in a plastic cover by the publisher, because "the GIO has no obligation to examine the content of every book."
Not everyone was convinced of the government's ability to address the issue satisfactorily, however.
A mother surnamed Chang with two boys in elementary school, said that she would keep a closer eye on her boys.
"It's definitely not good for my children's mental development. Since the authorities don't regulate those stores very well, I will have to take care of my kids more carefully," she said.
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