SHENZHEN - Almost 30 percent of Shenzhen's telephone booths and 861 newsstands have been removed in the city in the weeks leading up to the 26th World University Games.

The games, also known as the Universiade, will bring university athletes from around the world to compete in the city starting on Aug 12.

"Telephone booths, newspaper stands and breakfast vendors are prohibited from being in 10 of the city's arterial streets or roads that are next to venues that are important for the Universiade," said Liu Hanchu, deputy director of the Shenzhen Urban Management Bureau, on Monday.

Similar changes have come to 39 of Shenzhen's secondary arterial roads, which can now contain only one phone booth, one newsstand and one breakfast vendor for every 500-meter stretch of road.

Urban management officers have removed 4,210 telephone booths in the past two years. Shen Hanzhou, director of landscaping for the Shenzhen Urban Management Bureau, said Shenzhen had once contained 15,600 of the booths.

"Our reasons (for doing this) are simple," Shen said. "First of all, we don't need so many of them. Everybody has at least one mobile phone now. Before, you would have all types of phone boxes - at least four to six of them - within a 100-meter stretch.

"Secondly, we've conducted a survey on this and it showed that many phone boxes are not being used."

Liu said phone booths have become places where small advertisements are displayed and household garbage is disposed of.

To some, the changes pose little cause for concern. Tang Jian, an owner of a newsstand in the city's center business district, near the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, said he is more worried about the city's plan to forbid him from selling food, drinks and cigarettes.

"It's impossible to make a living by selling newspapers and magazines only," Tang said. "Those account for about 20 percent of my income. I paid 50,000 yuan ($7,606) for the license (to sell magazines and newspapers) and the rent is 4,000 yuan a month. Think about it, 0.2 yuan is all one earns from selling a newspaper. I'll have to shut this down and find another job if they force me to bring my most lucrative business to a halt."

Tang said the local government told him and other merchants that they must sell 30 copies of certain government-subsidized newspapers, including Shenzhen Special Zone Daily and Shenzhen Economic Daily.

The Shenzhen Urban Management Bureau said it will revoke the licenses of newsstands that continue to sell food and drinks.

Luo Zhaosheng, vice-director of the Shenzhen Urban Management Bureau's research center, said the bureau is doing that because "their licenses only give them the right to sell publications, not food".

Many local citizens said they don't understand why they aren't allowed to buy a bottle of water at a newspaper stand any more.

"They will still be in this business," said Lin Baiyu, a 21-year-old university student.

"It's just going to be under the table."