Officials at Nanchang's Cultural Department could not immediately be reached for comment.

Software piracy is a widespread problem in China. Even when users don't install pirated software themselves, whitebox PC makers and other retailers often preload pirated software instead of legitimate versions on PCs and servers. The Business Software Alliance, a trade group established to fight software piracy, estimated that the rate of software piracy in China was 82 percent in 2007, the most recent figure available.

As part of Nanchang's crackdown on pirated software, officials apparently struck a deal with a local Red Flag Linux distributor to install licensed software and provide two years of support for 5,000 yuan (US$725).

"We're using domestically produced Red Flag software, and have set a standard one-time fee of 5,000 yuan for each Internet cafe, which includes a lifetime license, and we will provide all Internet cafe owners two years of maintenance support for free," said Ren Xiaojie, general manager of a software distribution company, quoted in a (in Chinese) by Jiangxi Television's City Channel.

Red Flag Linux is a version of the Linux distribution, jointly developed by China's Red Flag, South Korea's Haansoft, and Miracle Linux, of Japan. The desktop version of the software is free, but Red Flag and its distributors charge users for the server version, as well as for support to help companies install and manage the software.