Okay, so I've done my part over the years making fun of anyone who thinks Internet/online game addiction is a real disease that deserves diagnostic criteria, special facilities, trained health care professionals, etc. Regardless, there is a constituency here in China who takes this very seriously, probably the same folks who think that if a child sees naked breasts online, he will end up with permanent brain damage and sexual dysfunction. Heaven forfend that anyone in China will be exposed to sexuality before the age of 25!
Anyway, I kind of thought that after the online game industry came into its own a few years ago, parents and government officials would learn to deal with it, let the kiddies play games, and live with the consequences.
Apparently I was wrong:
You gotta love these fantasy social problems. All one has to do is find one or two anecdotes (e.g., kid somewhere plays games for 72 hours straight and drops dead of dehydration) of kids behaving badly, then cleverly suggest that this sort of thing is endemic in modern Chinese society. If you're already predisposed to thinking that kids these days are worthless and lazy, you'll probably buy into the whole thing.
And then of course, once conventional wisdom says that there is such a thing as online game addiction, and folks start profiting from the "cure," there's no stopping any of it. This includes the health care establishment, which then has to make sure that diagnosis and treatment are being done properly. No, I'm serious.
Apparently a sufficient number of professionals have bought into the whole online game addiction mythology that they can now push the idea that treatment must be localized for Chinese kids. In the absence of high-quality diagnostic tools, the danger is . . . wait for it . . . misdiagnosis!
The jokes write themselves. I just wish more people realized this isn't a serious medical condition. Can't parents just turn off their kids' laptops and tell 'em to finish their homework before getting back online? How difficult is that, anyway?
© Stan for China Hearsay, 2013
Anyway, I kind of thought that after the online game industry came into its own a few years ago, parents and government officials would learn to deal with it, let the kiddies play games, and live with the consequences.
Apparently I was wrong:
China's online gaming industry took in revenue worth 24.84 billion yuan (4 billion US dollars) in the first half of 2012. However, minors' addiction to online gaming has caused serious social problems, which sometimes lead to juvenile crimes, according to an anonymous official with the Ministry of Culture.Anonymous official — nice. You'd think if these social problems and juvenile crimes were rampant, Xinhua might have been able to get someone on the record, eh? On the other hand, if this is all bullshit, then the sourcing makes more sense.
You gotta love these fantasy social problems. All one has to do is find one or two anecdotes (e.g., kid somewhere plays games for 72 hours straight and drops dead of dehydration) of kids behaving badly, then cleverly suggest that this sort of thing is endemic in modern Chinese society. If you're already predisposed to thinking that kids these days are worthless and lazy, you'll probably buy into the whole thing.
And then of course, once conventional wisdom says that there is such a thing as online game addiction, and folks start profiting from the "cure," there's no stopping any of it. This includes the health care establishment, which then has to make sure that diagnosis and treatment are being done properly. No, I'm serious.
China's culture and Internet authorities have decided to develop China-specific criteria for diagnosing minors' addiction to online gaming.Starting to understand how this stuff gains momentum? I'd be laughing my ass off if I wasn't so worried about the poor kids who are going to be subjected to online game addiction "treatment" under these new protocols. We've already heard about a few infamous cases of kids being thrown into institutions — some of these children have been seriously damaged on their way to a "cure."
If cases are assessed based on imported criteria developed for groups with different cultural and social backgrounds, it could result in misdiagnosis, according to a special workplan jointly issued by 15 ministry-level authorities on Sunday.
The plan calls on researchers to develop tools to identify the early stages of potential addiction, so as to enable early intervention for minors.
Apparently a sufficient number of professionals have bought into the whole online game addiction mythology that they can now push the idea that treatment must be localized for Chinese kids. In the absence of high-quality diagnostic tools, the danger is . . . wait for it . . . misdiagnosis!
The jokes write themselves. I just wish more people realized this isn't a serious medical condition. Can't parents just turn off their kids' laptops and tell 'em to finish their homework before getting back online? How difficult is that, anyway?
© Stan for China Hearsay, 2013
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Nearly a year after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began an investigation into the business practices of Hollywood film companies in China, The New York Times reports that the government has neither announced any action nor given any indication about the scope of its ongoing inquiry:
© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013.
![Twelve out of the 18 children in Poqi Village, Guizhou province, were left behind with their relatives during the Chinese New Year. There are a total of 85 million left-behind children in China, according to an estimate by Deutsche Welle.(Weibo.com)]( "Twelve out of the 18 children in Poqi Village, Guizhou province, were left behind with their relatives during the Chinese New Year. There are a total of 85 million left-behind children in China, according to an estimate by Deutsche Welle.(Weibo.com)")
"I got up really early this morning to fix breakfast for my younger brother before he went to school," wrote sixth grader Yang Haijiao in her diary recently. The government was distributing water on the side of the road, and she had to take the day off to collect it.
"The water has been gone completely in the past two days," she wrote. "Grandma has been ill for days. I can't expect her to get the water."
Like many of estimated 85 million other "left behind children," the young Guizhou Province student too often misses school to assume the responsibilities of an adult, while her parents live and work in a city far from home. This is the one of the prices of the Chinese regime’s economic growth model, which has brought astounding GDP statistics, but more than 30 years of fractured families and emotionally wounded children.
Struggling to support their families, millions of rural parents leave their villages to seek work in factories in the cities. Their children are left at home with their elderly grandparents, or other relatives, or even alone. The care of the children is often limited to basic living support and safety, while education, behavior, and psychological needs are often neglected.
Because of their low income and the strict household registration system in China, which makes it difficult for children to attend school anywhere but in their hometowns, most migrant workers' children cannot go with their parents, reports Deutche Welle. There are few local boarding schools for these children, and few schools for migrants' children in the cities.
Burdened with the responsibilities of an adult, Yang Haijiao missed school every other day to take care of her grandmother, or the family farm. "The weather is terrible. The drought has lasted for too long. If it rained, we'd have water and I would not have to miss school. I really don't want to continue missing school!"
When it did finally rain, she had to plant corn.
The overwhelming responsibilities are accompanied by the sorrow of separation. Yang Haijiao writes of the misery she felt at seeing her father leave: "I could not help crying whenever I thought that when the bus arrives, my father will leave and we will be left with many chores at home, and we won't know when he'll be back."
When her father asked why she was crying, she didn’t respond. He reminded her to "study hard." Yang writes: "I kept crying until father got on the bus."
Another student, Xia Min, wrote of Xia Congli, her classmate who was left alone at home, "One day on the way to school, Xia Congli told me her mom and dad are leaving to work at a far away place and she started to cry. I told her not to feel bad and said her parents must have felt sorry, too."
The note continued: "We often played games with her when we went to her house and hoped she would forget about the sad things. But she can not. She is still feeling as sad as before. I feel so bad."
The survey showed that most of the left-behind children are prone to psychological problems because of the lack of affection or family supervision and guidance. They become weak, introverted and exhibit low self-esteem. The separation from their parents often caused resentment and loneliness.
Learning disabilities are common in left-behind children. Frequent school absences and little, if any, help with homework coupled with the emotional trauma of the fractured family have left these children with few resources for gaining a proper education. The survey by the All China Women’s Federation reported that 45 percent of grandparents had never attended school, and 50 percent only had a primary education, and could not be expected to help the children with their schoolwork.
The left-behind children of Youji village of Guangxi are boarded at a primary school. School principal Lu Lipeng explained to Deutsche Welle: “The responsibility is immense. Their parents have all left for work and left their children at the school. Being a principal, their personal safety is my number one priority. Secondly, it is their room and board. They must be cared for like my own kids.”
Other left-behind children are not so fortunate, and must face difficult and even dangerous situations alone. Some of these vulnerable children even lose their lives. A 2005 flood in Hetang County, Hunan province killed 12 children, eleven of whom had been left behind.
Hollywood Uneasy as SEC Remains Silent
Nearly a year after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began an investigation into the business practices of Hollywood film companies in China, The New York Times reports that the government has neither announced any action nor given any indication about the scope of its ongoing inquiry:
Some who are involved in Hollywood's entry into China are privately expressing hope that the Justice Department inquiry will be resolved before they run out of time on what one of them last week called a "ticking clock," as Chinese consumers outgrow their receptivity to Hollywood fare.
The squeeze started last year when they began to spend more money on some homegrown films than on the American blockbusters.
But Michael W. Emmick, who was formerly a prosecutor with the Justice Department, and now focuses on the corrupt practices cases, among other things, in his private law practice, said a resolution could be a long time coming.
"This is still early in the game," he said.
While Mr. Emmick is not representing clients in the investigation, and said he had no direct knowledge of it, he said that regulators sometimes use such industrywide inquiries as a "cost effective" way of putting an entire business sector — like the pharmaceuticals industry or the portion of the financial industry dealing in sovereign debt — on notice.
© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013.
Twelve out of the 18 children in Poqi Village, Guizhou province, were left behind with their relatives during the Chinese New Year. There are a total of 85 million left-behind children in China, according to an estimate by Deutsche Welle.(Weibo.com)
"The water has been gone completely in the past two days," she wrote. "Grandma has been ill for days. I can't expect her to get the water."
Like many of estimated 85 million other "left behind children," the young Guizhou Province student too often misses school to assume the responsibilities of an adult, while her parents live and work in a city far from home. This is the one of the prices of the Chinese regime’s economic growth model, which has brought astounding GDP statistics, but more than 30 years of fractured families and emotionally wounded children.
Struggling to support their families, millions of rural parents leave their villages to seek work in factories in the cities. Their children are left at home with their elderly grandparents, or other relatives, or even alone. The care of the children is often limited to basic living support and safety, while education, behavior, and psychological needs are often neglected.
“I could not help crying whenever I thought that when the bus arrives, my father will leave.” — Yang Haijiao
Because of their low income and the strict household registration system in China, which makes it difficult for children to attend school anywhere but in their hometowns, most migrant workers' children cannot go with their parents, reports Deutche Welle. There are few local boarding schools for these children, and few schools for migrants' children in the cities.“I could not help crying whenever I thought that when the bus arrives, my father will leave.” — Yang Haijiao
In Their Words
“The Diary of Chinese Left-behind Children,” a collection of reflections written by 26 children from southwestern China’s Guizhou Province, documents the plight of these children in their own words. Their teacher, Yang Yuansong, compiled and edited the narratives, which describe what statistics and studies could never convey.Burdened with the responsibilities of an adult, Yang Haijiao missed school every other day to take care of her grandmother, or the family farm. "The weather is terrible. The drought has lasted for too long. If it rained, we'd have water and I would not have to miss school. I really don't want to continue missing school!"
When it did finally rain, she had to plant corn.
The overwhelming responsibilities are accompanied by the sorrow of separation. Yang Haijiao writes of the misery she felt at seeing her father leave: "I could not help crying whenever I thought that when the bus arrives, my father will leave and we will be left with many chores at home, and we won't know when he'll be back."
When her father asked why she was crying, she didn’t respond. He reminded her to "study hard." Yang writes: "I kept crying until father got on the bus."
Another student, Xia Min, wrote of Xia Congli, her classmate who was left alone at home, "One day on the way to school, Xia Congli told me her mom and dad are leaving to work at a far away place and she started to cry. I told her not to feel bad and said her parents must have felt sorry, too."
The note continued: "We often played games with her when we went to her house and hoped she would forget about the sad things. But she can not. She is still feeling as sad as before. I feel so bad."
Psychological Problems
The daily pressure of this bitter life has left many children with psychological problems. According to a survey by Women of China, 57 percent of high school age left-behind children suffered from mental health problems. The longer their parents have stayed away from home, the more serious were the psychological problems the children developed.The survey showed that most of the left-behind children are prone to psychological problems because of the lack of affection or family supervision and guidance. They become weak, introverted and exhibit low self-esteem. The separation from their parents often caused resentment and loneliness.
Learning disabilities are common in left-behind children. Frequent school absences and little, if any, help with homework coupled with the emotional trauma of the fractured family have left these children with few resources for gaining a proper education. The survey by the All China Women’s Federation reported that 45 percent of grandparents had never attended school, and 50 percent only had a primary education, and could not be expected to help the children with their schoolwork.
The left-behind children of Youji village of Guangxi are boarded at a primary school. School principal Lu Lipeng explained to Deutsche Welle: “The responsibility is immense. Their parents have all left for work and left their children at the school. Being a principal, their personal safety is my number one priority. Secondly, it is their room and board. They must be cared for like my own kids.”
Other left-behind children are not so fortunate, and must face difficult and even dangerous situations alone. Some of these vulnerable children even lose their lives. A 2005 flood in Hetang County, Hunan province killed 12 children, eleven of whom had been left behind.
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