The government is calling on more schools and community centers
to provide free Internet services for young people.
Zhang Xiaoliang, chief of the Communist Youth League Central
Committee's rights protection division, told China Daily
yesterday: "A healthy environment and healthy online content should
be offered to all kids, and we hope these 'green net bars' will
help to do that."
Zhang said that while there had been considerable efforts made
to crack down on illegal Internet cafes, doing so was not
necessarily the best way to protect youngsters from inappropriate
content.
Being online is a way of life for today's young people, Zhang
said, so it is virtually impossible to force them to stay away from
Internet cafes.
"You can't stop kids using Internet cafes just because they are
poorly managed," he said.
From Friday, the revised Law on the Protection of Minors
prescribes that, "Nonprofit Internet service infrastructures within
communities shall be free or offered at a discounted price, as well
as provide a safe and healthy online service for minors".
Youth and children's centers in the Wuhan, Jiaozuo and Tatang
neighborhoods of Guangzhou, to name but a few, were the pioneers in
providing this kind of nonprofit Internet cafes for minors, Zhang
said.
When asked about the existence of such places in the nation's
capital, however, he said: "So far, there are none."
The call for more "green net bars" follows a government notice
in March, which banned the opening of any new Internet cafes for
one year.
Fu Yanmei, an assistant inspector with the Ministry of Culture
said that during a national inspection of Net cafes, which runs
from next month until September, county officials will be required
to inspect their Internet cafes at least once a week, city
officials at least once a month, and provincial officials every two
weeks. It is hoped the inspections will help reduce the number of
youngsters who are currently addicted to online gaming, of which
there are currently some two million, authorities have said.
There are 120,000 registered Internet cafes and countless
unlicensed ones in China.
(China Daily May 29, 2007)