Beijing, Sep 13 (IANS): In a bid to filter obscene and violent content in children's reading, the Chinese government has released a circular calling for stricter supervision of children's publications.

"The children's publications market has been thriving with many quality works that boost healthy development, but problems also exist, such as shoddy quality, improper content and overly high prices," reported Xinhua citing the circular Thursday.

The circular instructed administrative departments to strictly ban publications that contain murder, violence, obscenity and erotic content.

It also suggested publishing houses to train professional editing teams for children's titles.

Xu Dexia, editor-in-chief of 'Literature for Children' magazine, blamed books with improper content on some publishers' pursuit of profits at the cost of cultural and social responsibility.

Figures show that 523 of a total 581 Chinese publishing houses release books for children.

While the traditional publication market keeps shrinking in general, Xu said, children's books remain one of the few profitable genres, and many publishers "are digging into this last piece of cake".

Out of the country's top 100 bestsellers in the first half of 2013, children's books accounted for 52 titles.

According to the circular, administrative departments should strengthen supervision and impose serious punishment on violators for printing, copying or releasing children's books with tawdry content.

It also stressed on online monitoring of publications, calling for timely deletion of questionable digital publications and shutting down websites in severe cases.