A law should be drafted to regulate the operation of Internet bars to better protect teenagers, Chinese lawmaker Yu Wen has said.

 

More effective measures should be taken to keep teenagers away from Internet bars for their healthy growth, according to 54-year-old Yu, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC).

 

"It is common to see students from primary and middle schools lingering in Internet bars overnight, puffing on cigarettes and engrossed in online games," said Yu, also chief executive officer of Xi'an-based Kami Co., Ltd. in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

 

Driven by profit, many Internet bars open their doors to teenagers and even provide them with cigarettes and liquor in defiance of government decrees, Yu noted.

 

Internet addiction among some teenagers has become a social problem. A report released by the China National Children's Center last year claimed that 13 percent of the 18 million Chinese Internet users under 18 are Internet addicts.

 

A report by the Beijing reformatory for juvenile delinquents showed that 33.5 percent of the delinquents there were goaded into committing crimes, mostly robbery and rape, by violent online games or erotic Web sites.

 

Regulations stipulate that Internet bar owners should check customers' ID cards so as to keep teenagers away. Those that were found to have served teenagers twice would be fined and their business suspended for 15 days while a third violation could lead to license withdrawal.

 

However, such administrative regulations are not carried out seriously in some areas.

 

A law is still necessary to enforce the supervision over Internet bars, Yu said. "Good supervision over Internet bars weighs in the healthy growth of the younger generations as well as social harmony and stability."

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)