Combining sympathy with discipline, a military-style boot camp near Beijing is at the front-line of China's battle against internet addiction, a disorder afflicting millions of the nation's youth.
The Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) in Daxing county uses a blend of therapy and military drills to treat the children of China's nouveau riche addicted to online games, internet pornography, cybersex and chats.
Concerned by a number of high-profile internet-related deaths and juvenile crime, the government is now taking steps to stem internet addictions by banning new internet cafes and mulling restrictions on violent computer games.
The government-funded Daxing centre, run by an army colonel under the Beijing Military Hospital, is one of a handful of clinics treating patients with internet addictions in China.
Patients, overwhelmingly male and aged 14 to 19, wake up in common dormitories at 6.15 a.m. to do morning calisthenics and march on the cracked concrete grounds wearing khaki fatigues.
Drill sergeants bark orders at them when they are not attending group and one-on-one counselling sessions. Therapy includes patients simulating war games with laser guns.
The IATC's tough love approach to breaking internet addiction is unique to China, but necessary in a country with over two million teenage internet addicts, according to facility staff.
The IATC has treated 1,500 patients in this way since opening in 2004, and boasts a 70 per cent success rate at breaking addictions. The fees cost about 10,000 yuan ($1,290) a month, nearly a year's average disposable income in China. But the centre takes on pro bono cases for poor families, said Tao Ran, its director.
At the end of 2006, China had 137 million internet users, an increase of 23.4 per cent from the previous year. Of users under 18, an estimated 13 per cent - or 2.3 million - are internet addicts, according to a 2006 study by the China National Children's Centre.
China's health authorities, however, have few illusions about placing internet addiction on a par with alcoholism, drug-taking and gambling.
The rising tide of internet-addicted youth has prompted the government to ban new internet cafes in 2007, which are seen in China as breeding grounds for social delinquency.
In the meantime one of India's top engineering schools has restricted internet access in its hostels, saying addiction to surfing, gaming and blogging was affecting students' performance, making them reclusive and even suicidal.
Authorities at the elite Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai said students had stopped socialising and many were late for morning classes or slept through them.
"Now, a student doesn't even know who lives two doors away from him because he is so busy on the internet," said Prakash Gopalan, dean of student affairs.
The Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) in Daxing county uses a blend of therapy and military drills to treat the children of China's nouveau riche addicted to online games, internet pornography, cybersex and chats.
Concerned by a number of high-profile internet-related deaths and juvenile crime, the government is now taking steps to stem internet addictions by banning new internet cafes and mulling restrictions on violent computer games.
The government-funded Daxing centre, run by an army colonel under the Beijing Military Hospital, is one of a handful of clinics treating patients with internet addictions in China.
Patients, overwhelmingly male and aged 14 to 19, wake up in common dormitories at 6.15 a.m. to do morning calisthenics and march on the cracked concrete grounds wearing khaki fatigues.
Drill sergeants bark orders at them when they are not attending group and one-on-one counselling sessions. Therapy includes patients simulating war games with laser guns.
The IATC's tough love approach to breaking internet addiction is unique to China, but necessary in a country with over two million teenage internet addicts, according to facility staff.
The IATC has treated 1,500 patients in this way since opening in 2004, and boasts a 70 per cent success rate at breaking addictions. The fees cost about 10,000 yuan ($1,290) a month, nearly a year's average disposable income in China. But the centre takes on pro bono cases for poor families, said Tao Ran, its director.
At the end of 2006, China had 137 million internet users, an increase of 23.4 per cent from the previous year. Of users under 18, an estimated 13 per cent - or 2.3 million - are internet addicts, according to a 2006 study by the China National Children's Centre.
China's health authorities, however, have few illusions about placing internet addiction on a par with alcoholism, drug-taking and gambling.
The rising tide of internet-addicted youth has prompted the government to ban new internet cafes in 2007, which are seen in China as breeding grounds for social delinquency.
In the meantime one of India's top engineering schools has restricted internet access in its hostels, saying addiction to surfing, gaming and blogging was affecting students' performance, making them reclusive and even suicidal.
Authorities at the elite Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai said students had stopped socialising and many were late for morning classes or slept through them.
"Now, a student doesn't even know who lives two doors away from him because he is so busy on the internet," said Prakash Gopalan, dean of student affairs.