Chinese Internet company Netease has received regulatory approval from the Ministry of Culture to resume play of the popular online role-playing game World of Warcraft in Chinese mainland, information from the ministry's website showed yesterday.

However, the company is still awaiting approval from the General Administration of Press and Publication before it can restart the game.

The administration said earlier that content examination for the online game is coming to an end. Some bloody and violent scenes need to be modified.

Netease signed an agreement with Activision Blizzard of the US, owner of World of Warcraft, to run the game in the Chinese mainland after the US company ended its four-year cooperation with another online game operator The9. Netease officially took over the game's license on June 8, 2009.

For more information, please consult the Chinese coverage here:

http://www.dfdaily.com/node2/node27/node120/userobject1ai180033.shtml

(China.org.cn July 22, 2009)