ZHENGZHOU, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Seventeen-year-old Xiao Xin was recently sent to a juvenile reformatory in central China's Henan Province for robbing a taxi in order to get money to play net games.

    He was not the only child captivated by the side effects of the Internet.

    Since more and more cases of juvenile delinquency are connected with the net, educational experts and teachers hope that an Internet-related law can be made soon to protect this group of children.

    Xiao Bing was another net game maniac and once stole money to buy game time and equipment. He said, "I got on the line every day at that time. I couldn't live without it."

    The boy's friend Xiao Heng, also an inmate of the reformatory, was fascinated by mafia movies on the net and finally imitated the plot by beating someone to death with the other four young gangsters. "Every time I felt frustrated, I would get on the net," he said.

    Cheng Mingwu, Head of Henan Juvenile Institute, said the proportion of net crime cases out of all those of juvenile delinquency is increasing.

    He said many crimes are connected with net-surfing. "The children often can't get the sense of happiness in real life, and are then easily attracted by the virtual world."

    Net games are often involved in many juvenile cases. Some insiders reveal that to play a Chinese net game, the player often has to spend more time and pay more money. They believe Chinese minors are much easier to get addicted and desperately need more money.

    Cheng said, "Some net game developers are losing their professional ethics. If they continue to change net game rules freely to their own will, we must intervene, or more children will get lost."

    Though some games are free for players now, you still have to buy armors and swords in the game with real money if you want to play better. If game developers change the "difficulty level" of the game from "hard" to "hardest", the players will have to pay more to get used to the new environment, said Xiao Xin.

    Zhang Jiasheng, a teacher from Henan Professional Normal School, said "Today the moral system of the Internet is fading. The Internet world is not real, but it is the real people that are surfing the net. Websites should always remember their morality and responsibility."

    Wang Jinshan, Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Sociology in Henan University of Finance and Economics, argues that law should be introduced into the virtual world because law works better than morals on the net.

    Wang said morals often function better among acquaintances, while the net world is full of strangers. As a result, some related laws will help people recover net morals and gradually form a good net-surfing habit.

    Xia Lihua, Vice-dean of the Department of Political Science in Zhengzhou Teachers College agrees that law should be introduced into net management. She suggests that a special organ should be established for the legal purpose and that China should draw up detailed and pragmatic laws to regulate behaviors on the Internet.

    However, He Zhanyuan, Vice-director of Henan Juvenile Reformatory, holds that the most urgent task is not to make a law, but to tackle the cases "on the boundaries between morals and law".

    He believes what is more important is the adults should set good examples for their children.

    Besides, to help the children already enslaved by the side effects of Internet, law is not powerful enough, He said.

    Now Henan Juvenile Reformatory invites a massage saloon to train young inmates so that they can live on themselves after finishing their jail terms.

    He said, "Such a job is often done by a special juvenile service center abroad, but now you can hardly find one in China. Our country should set up such centers for juvenile delinquents, so that the society will be more stable and harmonious." Enditem