Hugely popular online games and celebrity culture in China are the latest targets in the ruling Communist Party’s campaign to encourage the public to fall in line with its vision for a powerful, more wholesome country.
The message? Play less, study and work more.
Rules that take effect Wednesday cut the amount of game time children are allowed by more than two-thirds to three hours a week. That coincides with a campaign to curb what the party sees as unhealthy attention to celebrities online.
“Adolescents are the future of the motherland,” the Press and Publications Administration said in a statement Monday accompanying the game rules.
The measures add to a drumbeat of initiatives under President Xi Jinping over the past half-decade that are aimed at prodding the public and companies to align with the party’s political and economic goals.
“This appears to be part of China’s push to ensure that the government is front and center in all aspects of its citizens’ lives,” said Paul Haswell, who heads law firm Pinsent Masons’ technology, media and communications practice for…
