With more and more people getting addictive to Internet, e-chat and e-love has become a fashion among young web surfers in China, which has drawn fire from their parents.

A 15-year-old female student from East China’s Shandong Province recently abandoned her study, stole 10,000 yuan from her parents, and took a train south towards Jiangsu Province’s Suzhou, trying to date her online lover there. She traveled two days to arrive at the Suzhou Railway Station where she was stopped by the local police.

China’s press also gave heavy coverage lately to an 18-year-old girl from Qingdao, Shandong Province, who was reported having met eight on-line lovers within two months.

Statistics from an investigation carried out in Qingdao show that students make up over 50 percent of the total web surfers in Internet cafes. And, e-love is a common phenomenon among young Internet surfers.

The reasons lie in parents’ negligence of their children due to busy work and their lack of Internet knowledge, not knowing what their children are doing. E-love among teenagers should arouse attention from parents and teachers.

(China Daily 10/23/2000)