https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ternet-addicts
It was around midnight when the taxi pulled up outside the prison-like compound and Xiong Chengzuos parents delivered him to the man they call the evil godfather.
Earlier that day, the trio had set off from their home, more than 600km (370 miles) away, on what Xiongs parents claimed was a family outing. In fact, their destination was a boot camp-style treatment centre for troubled teenagers and internet addicts whose online obsession has their parents worried.
They tricked me, Xiong says of his internment on 18 December last year. I shouted and I yelled: I want to get out! I dont want to stay here! It was no use: My parents ignored me they left the next morning.
Xiong, 16, is one of an estimated 23 million Chinese internet addicts. And the evil godfather in fact an affable former Peoples Liberation Army soldier called Xu Xiangyang is one of those on the frontline of a global battle to rescue young people from what some perceive as a virtual hell.
Im totally against online games, says Xu, the 57-year-old head of the Xu Xiangyang education and training centre in Huaian, a city about 400km north of Shanghai. They completely ruin a persons health. They leave an individual with no means of earning money or supporting themselves. They are utterly meaningless and bring nothing positive to a family or a person.
Quote:
It was around midnight when the taxi pulled up outside the prison-like compound and Xiong Chengzuos parents delivered him to the man they call the evil godfather.
Earlier that day, the trio had set off from their home, more than 600km (370 miles) away, on what Xiongs parents claimed was a family outing. In fact, their destination was a boot camp-style treatment centre for troubled teenagers and internet addicts whose online obsession has their parents worried.
They tricked me, Xiong says of his internment on 18 December last year. I shouted and I yelled: I want to get out! I dont want to stay here! It was no use: My parents ignored me they left the next morning.
Xiong, 16, is one of an estimated 23 million Chinese internet addicts. And the evil godfather in fact an affable former Peoples Liberation Army soldier called Xu Xiangyang is one of those on the frontline of a global battle to rescue young people from what some perceive as a virtual hell.
Im totally against online games, says Xu, the 57-year-old head of the Xu Xiangyang education and training centre in Huaian, a city about 400km north of Shanghai. They completely ruin a persons health. They leave an individual with no means of earning money or supporting themselves. They are utterly meaningless and bring nothing positive to a family or a person.