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Phoebe Zhang

Chinese police have dismantled more than 1,000 gangs and detained about 8,200 suspects, just 10 days after the country’s top security official announced a year-long campaign against organised crime.
The Ministry of Public Security said on Monday that the crackdown focused on crimes that had evolved into “more covert” forms and spread rapidly online.
“New types of crimes such as online predatory lending, soft-violence debt collection … coerced consumption and online harassment have become major forms of organised crime,” the ministry said on social media.
“They gravely disrupt the normal economic and social order and undermine the public’s sense of security.”
It is the latest in a series of campaigns targeting organised crime that first began in 2018.
Police in Henan province detained 41 people accused of using malicious complaints against online shops to extort money, while police in Shandong province caught 27 suspects who allegedly caused traffic accidents to extort compensation from drivers, according to the ministry.
In a speech on July 31, Chen Wenqing, secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLAC), said more research was needed on the characteristics and patterns of organised and gang-related crimes “under new circumstances”.
He urged police to persist in striking hard and to “turn the blade inward” to uproot the gangs’ “protective umbrellas”, or officials who allow crime to happen.


Several police chiefs around the country have been sacked by anti-corruption agencies for misdeeds including protecting organised crime.
The year-long crackdown will end ahead of the 21st National Congress of the Communist Party. The five-yearly political event, expected to be held next autumn, is likely to feature a leadership reshuffle and the endorsement of a fourth term for President Xi Jinping.
On August 3, the official People’s Daily ran a full-page interview with an unnamed CPLAC official, who said the number of organised crime cases had decreased and public safety had continued to improve due to a crackdown after the 20th party congress in October 2022.
“In 2025, the number of criminal cases filed nationwide fell by 12.8 per cent, the lowest since the start of this century. Homicide dropped by 8.7 per cent, also the lowest this century,” the official said.
The official added that in a survey last year, 94.55 per cent of the public reported feeling satisfied with the campaign and 98.23 per cent said they felt safe.
According to the official, the new campaign should focus on emerging trends, including local criminal gangs in towns and neighbourhoods, as well as in the sand and mining industries.
The official added that cybercrime would be prosecuted, including blackmail based on “naked chats”, illegal lending, unlawful debt collection and forced consumption, as well as using “soft violence” methods such as stalking, harassment, intimidation and extortion.
In the past two weeks, police in multiple Chinese cities have issued a call for tips about gang-related crime. One notice from the government of Xian in Shaanxi province last week listed 10 new types of crimes, including doxxing, obtaining others’ information illegally, sexual extortion and using fake prices to trick people into buying things.
Xi has demanded that crackdowns on organised crime target not just gang members but also the corrupt officials who protect them. In 2018, speaking at a plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog, Xi called for catching “those gang-related criminals as well as the ‘umbrellas’ behind them”.


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The campaign targets ‘covert’ crimes that have spread online, from ‘soft violence’ to sexual extortion


The campaign targets ‘covert’ crimes that have spread online, from ‘soft violence’ to sexual extortion.


Over 8,200 detained as China launches year-long crackdown on organised crime

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The campaign targets ‘covert’ crimes that have spread online, from ‘soft violence’ to sexual extortion

The campaign targets ‘covert’ crimes that have spread online, from ‘soft violence’ to sexual extortion