This Day, That Year

On July 16, 2007, China introduced an online gaming restriction to curb Chinese young people’s obsession.

It requires game players to identify themselves by resident identity number, and after three hours’ play, players under 18 are prompted to stop. If they continue, their in-game points are slashed in half. After five hours, all their

points are automatically erased.

This year, addiction to video games was recognized by the World Health Organization as a mental health disorder.

Despite a series of policies to curb game addiction, the online gaming market has been growing strong in China — 23 percent year-on-year to

The newspaper and beyond

203.6 billion yuan ($30.6 billion) last year.

Market consultancy Statista estimated that China’s internet gaming industry would generate total revenues of 375.8 billion yuan in 2020.

There were about 442 million internet gamers across the country at the end of last year, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

Playing video games isn’t just a hobby for many Chinese youth. With the coun- try’s booming gaming industry, electronic sports are now becoming a new academic option at universities.

In 2016, the Ministry of Education added esports to the list of majors for vocational colleges.

More than 10 vocational colleges offered the major last year.

Esports will be an official medal sport at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, after being added as a demonstration sport at the 2018 Asian Games, according to the Olympic Council of Asia.