Despite a Ban, Chinese Youth Navigate to Internet Cafes

"A friend of mine took me to an Internet cafe and I then got addicted," the letter said, according to a copy released by Fangshan authorities. "Every day I went to an Internet cafe to play computer games, watch movies and chat with friends. I had to steal money from my parents to pay the fee. . . . I now realize I am wrong and I clearly recognize the hazards of Internet cafes."

Zhang responded the same day by touring the eight Internet cafes then known to be operating in Dedong, the county seat with about 20,000 of Fangshan's 150,000 residents. Six of the eight were near the elementary and middle schools that sit on either side of Jicui Park, Che said.

"Secretary Zhang found the situation was not healthy," Che added. "He found the cafes were so dirty, and also that they were full of young people below the age of 18."

At the same time, a lower-ranking official on the county Communist Party committee, Gao Yunlin, discovered that his son was spending a lot of time in Internet cafes, to the detriment of his studies. The official posted his son's picture in Gedong's cafes and asked managers not to let his son get online, Che recounted.

Zhang, contacted by telephone, defended his decision but declined to be interviewed in person. He professed not to know that a number of clandestine Internet cafes had opened since his ban was imposed. "If you find any open, you may report them to the county Industry and Commerce Administration," he said.

In an earlier conversation with the Democracy and Legal Times newspaper, Zhang said he finally acted in May after receiving a number of complaints from parents who said their children were wasting time in the Internet cafes, neglecting their studies and spending all their lunch money on game-playing.

"Whenever people talked about Internet cafes, they got crazy," Zhang told the paper. "We came to a conclusion: Internet cafes bring more bad than good to young people. So we decided to shut them down. The harm to children is no less than from drugs."

To carry out his decree, Zhang relied on regulations requiring that establishments such as Internet cafes be certified by local authorities. The certification usually concerns fire safety, hygiene, opening hours and compliance with a national law barring youths under 18 -- rules that were routinely violated by the cafe owners and their informal operations, Che said.

In random conversations around Gedong, parents expressed strong support for Zhang's ban, even nine months later. The town's teenagers were wasting too much time in endless sessions at the keyboard until Zhang cracked down, they said.

"I think more than 90 percent of middle school students were going to those Internet cafes," said Guo Mei, 32, a mother waiting for classes to let out at the elementary school. "They all play games. They don't study well because they spend so much time on the computer. Those Internet cafes were having such a negative effect that the authorities' decision to shut them down was absolutely right."

Xue Fayu, 38, said he was delighted to see the cafes banned because they were operating without proper safety inspections and were closing their doors to avoid notice by police, endangering the lives of the youngsters inside.

"And pornography was a big issue, too," Xue added. "My son is a middle school student, and I discovered he had visited many pornographic Web sites."