BEIJING, - China has banned schools from organising "vulgar" beauty, art or talent shows, worried they may corrupt young minds and simply be used to extract money from parents, state media said on Thursday.

"There are more and more children wearing special outfits and singing pop songs on stage or television screens," the official Xinhua news agency said, citing new rules from the Ministry of Education.

"Art education is about cultivating children's minds to appreciate beauty, not to train up 'little stars'," it said in a report on its Web site (www.xinhuanet.com).

"The rules are to oppose the 'adultisation' of artistic activities, the 'vulgarisation' of campus culture and other harmful tendencies," Xinhua added.

In January, the government shut a dancing school in the southwestern Guangxi region which sent underage students half way across the country to work as bar girls.

"These problems affect the development of art education and the healthy growth of primary and middle school children," it said.

Schools are banned from charging excessive fees for art competitions too, the report added.

It is not uncommon for Chinese parents to make their children take extra-curricular art classes, hoping to give them an edge when it comes to ultra-competitive university entrance exams.

Heavily made-up children in often bizarre and garish outfits warbling syrupy songs is also common on Chinese television and in advertising.