A police officer explains to students of a vocational school in Beijing on Wednesday the type of knives that will be banned.

Beijing police have launched a campaign to crack down on knife crime in schools and universities, the Beijing News reported yesterday.

As of Wednesday, students across the city are prohibited from carrying "dangerous" knives on campus, it said.

The Ministry of Public Security earlier defined dangerous knives as those that have a point with an angle of less than 60 degrees (regardless of length), and all blades longer than 12 cm.

It is already a crime to carry a sharp knife in public, and anyone caught doing so faces 10 days' detention and a 500-yuan ($75) fine. However, the rule was never rigorously enforced in schools.

Education departments are cooperating with police on the month-long campaign, the newspaper said.

Students carrying knives on campus, or attempting to sell them, will be fined or even detained, it said.

To promote the campaign, police on Wednesday held an exhibition of assorted weapons and photographs of victims of knife attacks at the Beijing Practical Arts School.

High school student Zhao Huan told China Daily yesterday that some of his classmates carry knives.

"They think it's manly," he said.

However, police officer Liu Zhiguo said it is dangerous for young people to carry knives, as they might become overexcited in an argument and resort to using them, the report said.

Several knife crimes linked to schools have made the news in recent months.

On Oct 28, a student stabbed to death a professor at China University of Political Science and Law as he was preparing for a class.

(China Daily November 14, 2008)