With more Chinese consumers connecting to the Internet via smartphones or their personal computers every year, internet cafes in China are struggling to find success and must break the law just to be able to stay afloat, TechinAsia reports.

Mr. Zhang, owner of Hainan Internet café, first opened his business ten years ago and says things have drastically changed for the worse. Zhang told a newspaper reporter that the only thing keeping these businesses from closing down is to allow kids in and play video games.

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There were a total of over 10,000 Internet cafes that struggled to bring in revenue and needed to be shut down between 2011 and 2012 alone.

"These days business is bad for every internet cafe," Zhang said. "If you don't let kids in to play games, then basically you can't make any money at all."

However, by doing so, business owners run the risk of crossing paths with the government, as Chinese law prohibits any minors from being able to enter Internet cafes.

Owners are supposed to register the actual identity of each person that uses their services, but loopholes allow kids to use the Internet and play video games. One could easily get a hold of registered IDs downloaded from the Internet and could even use one ID for multiple computers.

The Chinese government is aware of what is going on and will reportedly be implementing new measures in efforts to keep kids out of Internet cafes. Under the new measures, no Internet café will be allowed within 200 meters of a school.   

Zhang claims he used to follow the law, but after seeing most of the other Internet cafes close down, he realized the only way he has a chance of staying in business is to continue allowing minors to use his services, even if it's during school hours.

"You can't offend the students who come frequently," Zhang reasoned. "They're connected to all of their classmates, so if you try to restrict one of them, a lot of other 'business' will disappear along with that one."

TagsInternet cafes, internet services, Hainan, children, kids