Most minors in the eight urban administrative districts of Beijing share a common habit of spending their spare time surfing the Internet, according to a survey by Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau last weekend.

 

It takes those minors 3.02 hours and 1.38 hours per day in front of the computer, respectively, in their winter vocation and after school. 21% of primary school pupils of Grade One to Grade Three usually surf the Internet, and 40.9% from Grade Four to Grade Six. As many as 64.5% of junior high students and 83.6% of senior high students spend their spare time online.

 

With regard to the purpose of going online, 65.4% of those interviewed say they go online to search for information and 62.0% to play Internet games or chat with others.

 

Statistics show that, currently, only a small group of minors habitually choose to get information from newspapers, 17.1% of all minors with reading competence. At the same time, 38% of them say they hardly read newspapers.

 

To the question "Who is your idol?" 60.3% of the answers are pop stars, 59.4% are famous athletes, and only 28.5% are great men. Among all answers, Liu Xiang is most frequently named, say, 34.4% of the total.

 

(Chinanews.cn March 7, 2007)