The Committee to Nuke Elysium

“Promoting Internet cafe chains allows the government to have more control,” said Yu Yi, an analyst with Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. “The Internet cafe chains all adhere to the same standards on service and security.”

Around a third of China’s Internet population surfs the Web from Internet cafes. The Ministry of Culture said the number of Internet cafe users in China reached 163 million in 2010. The country’s total Internet population stands at 457 million users.

There are currently 144,000 Internet cafes in China, according to the ministry, and close to 30 percent of them are operated by chain businesses.

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Despite efforts aimed at closing down Internet cafes, the number of people using Internet cafes to access the Web increased by 28 million people in 2010, according to the ministry. The rising total appears to be at odds with the closures, but over the past six years more legal Internet cafes have entered the market, Yu said. The ministry’s report also does not say if some of the illegal cafes that were closed later reopened.

About half of the people who use Internet cafes in China are 18 to 25 years old, according to Analysys International. Nine percent of the users are under the age of 18. At the same time, 60 percent of the users have monthly incomes at 3000 yuan (US$456) and under.

China has the world’s largest Internet cafe market, said Yu. “The leadership has been trying to regulate it for some time now,” he said. China is actively closing down Internet cafes that don’t meet regulations in an effort to standardize the way they operate, he added.