MUMBAI: Chinese government has asked the country's television presenters to stop dyeing their hair, exposing too much flesh and using English words. The government's new policy also bans imports of overseas crime shows.

After the recent moves to crack down on the internet and computer games, the state administration of radio, film and TV has issued the new broadcasting regulations. They claim that the new restrictions will save juveniles from unhealthy influences.

Mainland Chinese TV channels have been distancing themselves from their counterparts' (read Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong) content policy that allowed wild, and often sexually explicit shows.

But in recent years, broadcasters who cater to the rising urban middle-classes in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou are forced to stretch their content beyond the regulatory boundaries to produce livelier programmes to gain more advertising revenues.

The government and a section of the public are also irked by the fact that some of the popular TV presenters are not well versed in traditional languages like Mandarin and Chinese.