An obscene text message defaming local officials that spread like wildfire in Zhidan County of northwest China's Shaanxi Province has led to the arrest of two village doctors and the firing of four others, police said on Thursday.

The message, which circulated for two months among mobile subscribers in Zhidan County in Yan'an City starting in September, alleged the county's party chief had raped a woman. It also made libelous comments about 13 other county officials, said Lu Jie, head of police in Bao'an Township.

The police station was informed of the message at the end of September. After an investigation began, police soon found that the message originated with Sun Qishi, a doctor at the village clinic in Danba Township, Lu told Xinhua.

Sun confessed he had composed the text message with his colleague Li Baojun when they were training at Zhidan County People's Hospital, the county's leading medical institution, in September.

The president of the hospital was also among those defamed.

The two were arrested on Nov. 9. Both admitted to Xinhua that they regretted their actions at the detention center on Thursday.

Sun said they had written the message "just for fun" and sent it to a few friends. "We never thought of the consequence."

The two men violated article 246 of the Chinese criminal law and face prosecution upon further investigation, said Yuan Xin, the county's top prosecutor.

The article documents that those openly insulting others or fabricating stories to slander others, in serious cases, are subject to less than three years in prison, criminal detention or surveillance.

On Nov. 13, the Zhidan County's organization department, which is in charge of the appointment and removal of officials, sacked four of its junior officials for forwarding the text message.

Among them were a local science worker, a manager of a state-owned retail industry association, a county health bureau official and a former school teacher.

All four declined to be interviewed.

Zuo Zhiming, a former head of the health supervision institute under the county's health bureau and one of those sacked, said he felt "ashamed" and "had nothing to say".

Several townspeople told Xinhua that text messages making fun of others were quite popular in the rural county.

"I agree it's immoral to defame officials with libelous messages," said Mu Xiaoli, a laid-off worker. "But I don't think these offenders deserve severe punishment."

Sending text messages costs about 0.1 yuan (about 1.3 U.S. cents) each and is a popular means of communication and entertainment in China where the number of mobile phone subscribers topped 500 million at the end of June. For every 100 Chinese, there are now 38.3 handsets.

The Beijing Public Security Bureau warned earlier this year that those sending pornographic text messages or pictures on their cell phones may be fined up to 3,000 yuan (385 U.S. dollars) and serve two weeks in detention.

(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2007)