Authorities have maintained a severe crackdown on crimes related to cheating on examinations, with 129 such cases having been investigated and 208 suspects caught so far this year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The public security organs and education authorities have severely punished those who organize cheating in examinations or produce and sell equipment used in cheating. This year, they have handled 189 cases of producing and selling equipment for cheating and caught 990 suspects, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The gaokao, China's national college entrance exam, is being held on Tuesday and Wednesday nationwide, while in some places it extends to Friday.

To ensure the examination is held safely and smoothly, the Ministry of Public Security has deployed public security organs to inspect places around the examination sites, including rental houses, internet cafes and nucleic acid testing sites.

They also alerted enterprises and institutions that may cause noise and interfere with the gaokao to eliminate risks and hidden distractions.

The police were asked to target every step of exam cheating to break the criminal network, investigate and punish acts of selling cheating equipment and uncover the factories producing the equipment.

In addition, public security authorities have worked with other departments to clean up online and offline advertising for cheating equipment, organizing proxy tests and selling answers.

The ministry said it would supervise the handling of major cases and quickly detect and resolve such cases, and public security organs would work closely with the education department to discover and investigate acts of cheating.

According to the Criminal Law, people who organize cheating, sell and use wireless cheating equipment or provide test questions and answers to examinees in the national examinations are in violation of the law.

In the case of someone taking exams for others, the examinee and the ghostwriter will receive identical punishment, according to the Criminal Law.

People who organize cheating could be sentenced to from three to seven years imprisonment plus a fine, according to a judicial interpretation issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Examinees who carry or use cheating equipment and materials will be stopped from taking the relevant examinations for between one and three years.