( CNN ) If you were mourning the loss of a loved one in China , at least the entertainment might have cheered you up . Until now . In rural China , hiring exotic dancers to perform at wakes is an increasingly common practice , but is now the latest focus of the country 's crackdown on vice . Strippers are invited to perform at funerals , often at great expense , to attract more mourners , China 's official Xinhua news agency said . Another report suggested another motivation : that the performances `` add to the fun . '' Photos obtained by CNN from an attendee at a village funeral in Cheng'an County in Hebei Province show mourners of all ages , including children , watching the performance . The attendee , who asked not to be identified , said he was visiting family during the Lunar New Year holiday . While he was there , one of the elderly villagers died so he went to the funeral . `` I felt something was n't right , '' he told CNN . `` The performance crossed the line . I had heard about hiring strippers to dance at funerals but had never seen it myself . I was shocked when I saw the strippers . '' He said the villagers said this kind of performance had been practiced for a while . `` They did n't find it shocking or strange . They were used to it . `` They told me , 'what if we ca n't watch ( this kind of ) performance after it gets exposed by the media ? ' '' In some areas of China , the hiring of professional mourners , known as `` kusangren '' is commonplace . These can include performances , although in recent times the dance acts have increasingly tended towards the erotic . China 's Ministry of Culture issued a statement Thursday announcing a crackdown on these funeral stripteases . It said that the ministry had investigated two separate incidents , one in Handan City , Hebei Province , and the other in Suqian City , Jiangsu Province . Both involved multiple-participant `` burlesque '' and `` striptease '' shows as mourners looked on . The Ministry 's report said that stripteases undermined `` the cultural value of the entertainment business , '' and asserted that `` such acts were uncivilized . '' The practice has been going on for some time , the report said . Exotic dancing and other forms of pornography are illegal in China . The dancers in the two cases were held in `` administrative detention '' following the two investigations , the report added . The Ministry of Culture did not respond to CNN requests for comment . Last year , the Chinese Ministry of Public Security ordered police across China to step up efforts to tackle the `` three vices '' -- prostitution , gambling and drug trafficking -- warning officials they would be held accountable for illegal activities . In February 2014 , a massive crackdown on prostitution in the southern manufacturing city of Dongguan , dubbed `` Sin City '' for its huge vice industry , raided 2,000 establishments and detained more than 900 people .
Funeral strippers in rural China are the latest focus of the country 's crackdown on vice . The government has been cracking down on prostitution and pornography since at least 2009, when it banned "immoral" movies from being shown to minors. Government report says that stripteases undermine `` the cultural value of the entertainment business ''