An army of police officers and government officials from various departments conducted a series of inspections on Internet cafes in three districts Monday afternoon as the city steps up enforcement of regulations of Net bars.

The inspections, which were led by the Shanghai Culture, Radio, Film and TV Administration, covered the districts of Baoshan, Putuo and Minhang, all of which connect the city's downtown with its outskirts, a wide zone that has been home to many illegal Net cafes.

Three teams, composed of officers from the administration's general inspection team, the police and the Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau, inspected several randomly chosen Net cafes.

A reporter from Shanghai Daily joined the team in Putuo District.

Jing Jun'an, captain of the Putuo District general team of culture inspection, said the checkups will focus on several major areas, and, most importantly, the teams are to check if Net cafes were allowing people under the age of 16 to surf the Internet.

During the inspection, officials browsed each cafe's registration book, which is supposed to keep a record of each customer's ID number. ID cards are only available to those at and over the age of 16 in China.

Banning the minors at Net cafes is an essential measure to keep them from getting addicted to surfing Websites and influenced by online pornography and will always be a focus of our actions, said Tao Zuhai, an official from the Ministry of Culture, at a meeting before the inspections began.

The Putuo team first checked Greenland Digital Plaza on Ningxia Road, a licensed Net cafe with 164 computers.

Spacious and well-lit, the cafe, which just opened last year, is equipped with good hardware and a professional staff.

Inspectors found 138 customers in the cafe when they arrived about 4:30 pm.

They asked a few randomly chosen customers to show their ID cards, finding two who didn't bring the certificates with them but were allowed in after leaving their ID numbers in the registration book.

The cafe operator agreed to a fine for the minor violation, which, according to the officers, would cost no more than 3,000 yuan (US$361).

Officers also inspected safety equipment and fire escape facilities, noticing no violations. The inspections are expected to continue for another six days.

(Shanghai Daily April 27, 2004)