"We cannot just blame net cafes for all wrongdoings," said Qiu.

In 2004, the city of Chibi in Central China's Hubei Province shut down all of its 57 net cafes.

However, the move was rejected by the supervisory provincial bureau which said the ban was "not feasible," reported local newspaper the Wuhan Morning Post.

The latest survey released by the China Internet Network Information Centre showed 30 million of the country's 200 million primary and middle school students were regular netizens by June. They accounted for nearly a quarter of the country's 123 million netizens.

A previous survey by the Jiangsu Provincial Youngster Psychology Research Centre in May showed that 48.5 per cent of student netizens played games and 36 per cent were engaged in "chatting" online. About 10 per cent of those surveyed admitted to visiting pornographic websites.

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