娱乐英语新闻:Entertainment employees in Beijing receive identity cards

BEIJING, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- More than 80,000 employees working in Beijing's entertainment venues have had their identifications registered and have been issued identity cards, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said in a statement on Thursday.

Those receiving identity cards included managers, security guards, and service staff employed by over 1,000 karaoke halls, nightclubs, and video game arcades in Beijing, it said.

Such establishments will be forbidden to employ unregistered workers, and serious offenders may face a penalty of having their business license suspended, the statement added.

The implementation of issuing identity cards is among the latest moves to tighten supervision of entertainment venues and to crack down on illegal activities, including prostitution, illegal gambling, and drug trafficking.

Beginning in May, local police started registering employees of these entertainment venues in Beijing, said Li Zhongyi, a senior official of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Registered employees must swipe their cards prior to and at the conclusion of work shifts, providing information on these highly mobile workers.

This information can help deter criminality against this group of people and offers clues during investigations of criminal cases, said the statement, according to Li.

Further, police have demanded that entertainment venues dismiss and deny future access to 438 employees who were found to have criminal records involving prostitution, erotic performances, and drug trafficking, Li said.

Since July, police in Beijing have combed 2,635 entertainment venues for unregistered employees, and 42 of these businesses have been temporarily closed for not observing the rule.

Similar suspicions have also resulted in the closing of 158 hair salons that were found to have engaged in prostitution, and 2,094 suspects were detained, according to the statement.