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Dec. 10, 2004 Kodomogaku and the Internet in China Mariko Tokoro, CRN staff

In early November, I traveled to China with Dr. Kobayashi, CRN Director, and some researchers. CRN is currently planning to launch a Chinese-language website. The purpose of our trip was to visit research institutes involved in child-related issues and gather information on the state of Internet use in China as preparation for the website. In Beijing, we visited the major research institutes in China in the field of pediatrics, education, and neurology. Dr. Kobayashi presented his views on Kodomogaku (Child Science), and at each institute, these colloquia were attended by twenty to thirty staff members with lively discussions ensuing. As China is now facing increasingly serious problems concerning children, we felt the need for cooperation among specialists across borders and disciplines. The One-Child Policy has been the cause of the some of these child-related problems while others have been attributed to the rapid economic growth of recent years. For instance, everyday life has become stressful for children due to the boom in English classes starting in preschool and excessive cram school attendance. We heard of increases in child suicide, child obesity, and other serious problems. One can imagine the high expectations that parents have of their only child, but parents do not seem to be listening to the cautionary advice of experts who warn against having unrealistic expectations. Internet use is expanding rapidly in China. Even if university students don't have a TV in their room, they have a personal computer, which they use to read the news, watch films, and even look for a boyfriend or girlfriend. When we looked into Internet cafes in town, we saw young people accessing popular chat rooms and university BBS, and surfing the web using a variety of search engines. To a Japanese person, the Chinese-language websites had a familiar look because of the Chinese characters, but they still looked a bit different from Japanese websites. A distinctive Chinese Internet culture has clearly taken root and this was obvious to us from the use of the color, layout of the menu, abundant use of flash, etc. The CRN Chinese-language website will be launched in February 2005. With the cooperation of child researchers and specialists in China, we are gathering information that will be helpful to parents and teachers in the classroom. We are now translating articles on the CRN Japanese-language and English-language website. In the future, information on the Chinese-language website will be posted on both the Japanese- and English-language sites. We look forward to expanding the Kodomogaku network! Let us hear your comment at Let's Talk!

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