From the Readers

Internet cafes

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-14 08:21

"Make internet clean for youths" (China Daily, April 10-11) makes some good points. As a teacher here in China, I sometimes drop into an internet center to check email, and I see exactly what the article describes: "juvenile game lovers ... playing games for hours at a stretch."

But I also see some other things that worry me. The smoke is always so thick I fear I will die from cancer caused by second-hand smoke. But a greater concern is not my health, but the attitude that is being instilled in today's youth: those "no smoking" signs between their ashtrays apparently mean nothing. When the same youths enter a restaurant, as I did in Beijing last week, the "no smoking" signs there mean nothing either.

Another point I would add to Wang Xiao's comments: those in the internet cafes often watch movies illegally available in the internet. Since these youths see "everybody" doing it, I am afraid they may never be convinced that the government means business when it says intellectual property will be protected here. Worth thinking about.

John Hulpke,via e-mail

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(China Daily 04/14/2010 page9)