Authorities in Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province, are encouraging local residents to report sex workers by offering them generous rewards in a new crackdown on its sex trade in entertainment venues and hotels. 

An employee from the reporting center told the Global Times that those who report on the sex trade will receive an reward of up to 10,000 yuan ($1,519). 

 "We offer a reward of up to 10,000 yuan to those who inform the police and help authorities crack down on a den involving over 50 people," said the employee, adding that the center has been receiving daily reports.

According to a statement published Monday on the city's official website, a 44-day police dragnet was launched on Saturday to prevent the sex trade from re-emerging after the 2014 crackdown. This crackdown mainly focused on people who offer sex services through the instant messaging app WeChat, text messages and flyers. 

The statement said that a local hotel suspected of providing sex services was padlocked for 15 days, fined 10,000 yuan and its license suspended in a recent raid for failing to register its clients' identities in accordance with regulations.

Guangdong police waged a major crackdown on the sex trade and suspended the operations of thousands of venues that violated regulations in February 2014, after a China Central Television report on widespread prostitution in Dongguan, a city which has long held the reputation of being the "sex capital" of China. 

Local police said in July 2014 that 1,134 entertainment venues, or 70 percent of the closed entertainment venues in Dongguan - including bathhouses, karaoke parlors and  foot massage houses - had reopened after the crackdown. 

"It is hard to see streetwalkers these days, but some hotels still provide sex services. If you want to solicit prostitutes, hotel employees would usually take you to a 'hidden' room. For example, if this hotel has 16 floors, you can only take the elevator to the 15th floor and then walk to the 16th floor, where you can get what you want," a factory worker from Dongguan told the Global Times. 

He said that the hotels usually conduct the sex trade in the name of a foot massage service, and the average price for sex services is around 500 yuan per session. "You can get the service in the city's karaoke parlors, but it costs at least 2,000 yuan."