The hygiene licence guide lists the seven categories of public place a licence covers, and its third category names games arcades alongside cinemas and dance halls. The site has never said what one of those is like, or what governs it.
It is worth doing, because the Chinese internet café — 网吧 (wǎngbā) — is not a loosely run room with computers in it. Almost everything about it, down to the hour it must close, is set out in one national regulation.
The instrument, and it has been amended five times#
The rules come from the 互联网上网服务营业场所管理条例 (hùliánwǎng shàngwǎng fúwù yíngyè chǎngsuǒ guǎnlǐ tiáolì, Regulations on the Administration of Business Premises Providing Internet Access Services), issued as State Council Order No. 363 on 29 September 2002.
The consolidated text published by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism carries an unusually long amendment header — the regulation has been revised five times, in 2011, 2016, 2019, 2022 and most recently by the State Council's decision of 6 December 2024. The three articles that shape a visitor's experience read identically in that current text and in the State Council Gazette's consolidated version as amended in 2019, so their wording survived the two most recent revisions unchanged.
The article names the 身份证, the resident identity card, and then extends to 等有效证件, other valid documents. It does not enumerate them, so what a particular counter accepts from a foreign passport holder is a practical question rather than one the regulation settles — the same gap that runs through the identity check at a parcel counter.
A national no-smoking rule, in a country that has no national no-smoking rule#
Article 24 sets out the operator's safety duties as a five-item list, and the first item is the interesting one:
（一）禁止明火照明和吸烟并悬挂禁止吸烟标志；
Naked-flame lighting and smoking are prohibited, and a no-smoking sign must be displayed. The rest of the list bars bringing in or storing flammables and explosives, forbids fixed sealed bars on doors and windows, forbids blocking or locking doors, escape routes and exits during business hours, and forbids stopping safety measures without authorisation.
That first item sits oddly beside what this site says elsewhere, and the tension is worth stating precisely. There is no national indoor smoking ban in China — the general rule really is set city by city. What Article 24 does is not a general ban but a venue-specific national one: in this class of premises, in every city, smoking is prohibited by a State Council regulation and the sign is mandatory. The national rule exists for the room, not for the country.
The other half: playing at home#
Physical premises bar minors outright. Online, the treatment is completely different.
The 国家新闻出版署 (State Press and Publication Administration) issued 国新出发〔2021〕14号 on 30 August 2021, in force from 1 September 2021. Its first item:
自本通知施行之日起，所有网络游戏企业仅可在周五、周六、周日和法定节假日每日20时至21时向未成年人提供1小时网络游戏服务，其他时间均不得以任何形式向未成年人提供网络游戏服务。
Online game companies may provide minors with one hour of service, from 20:00 to 21:00, on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays, and at no other time in any form.
Its second item closes the door that would otherwise reopen it:
所有网络游戏必须接入国家新闻出版署网络游戏防沉迷实名验证系统，所有网络游戏用户必须使用真实有效身份信息进行游戏账号注册并登录网络游戏，网络游戏企业不得以任何形式（含游客体验模式）向未实名注册和登录的用户提供游戏服务。
Every online game must connect to the administration's anti-addiction real-name verification system; every user must register and log in with genuine identity information; and no company may serve an unverified user in any form, guest-trial mode included. The parenthesis is the whole point — the obvious workaround is named and shut.
Item five defines the terms: a minor is a citizen under 18, and "online game company" includes platforms providing the service.
The regulation behind the verification#
The identity machinery was given a statutory footing by the 未成年人网络保护条例 (Regulations on the Protection of Minors Online), State Council Order No. 766, promulgated 16 October 2023 and in force from 1 January 2024.
| Article | What it requires |
|---|---|
| 43 | Services tailored by age band in duration, hours, function and content, per national rules and standards |
| 44 | Reasonable caps on a minor's single transaction and daily total spend, by age band |
| 46 | Real identity verified through a unified electronic authentication system for minors' online games |
Article 44 is worth a second look. The spending limit is not a parental control offered as a feature; it is an obligation on the operator, graded by the age of the player.
In practice#
- Take your passport if you want to use one. Identity is checked and registered by law, and the record of your session is kept for at least sixty days.
- They close at midnight. Article 22 is not a house rule, and an establishment open at 03:00 is not operating under this regulation.
- Look for the sign on the door. A "no minors" notice at the entrance is a legal requirement, and its absence says something about the premises.
- This is not the main way to get online. For a visitor the practical route is data on your own device — what is blocked, and how connectivity actually works covers it properly.
- Travelling with a teenager who games? The account, not the device, is what the system regulates, and it turns on the identity the account was registered with. The other legal lines that apply to under-eighteens in China are worth reading alongside this.
- Do not expect a guest mode. Unverified play is prohibited by name, in every form.
- Hong Kong and Macau legislate all of this separately, so neither the premises regulation nor the online-game hours describe a session played there.
Checked for newer, and what I could not read#
The 互联网上网服务营业场所管理条例 was read on the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's own information-disclosure site, which publishes the consolidated text with the full amendment header through the decision of 6 December 2024. Articles 21, 22 and 23 were then cross-checked character for character against the State Council Gazette's consolidated version, which carries the regulation as amended in 2019. The two agree exactly on all three, which is what allows this page to say the wording survived the 2022 and 2024 revisions. Article 24 was read on the Ministry site only.
The 2021 notice was read on the State Council's policy database and cross-checked against a municipal government republication; the two agree on the document number 国新出发〔2021〕14号, on the permitted hours, on the real-name clause and on the commencement date. The issuing authority's own site returned 503 on every attempt, so the notice was not read where it was published. One search result gave the document number as 〔2021〕41号; both hosts read directly say 14号, and that is what this page uses.
The 未成年人网络保护条例 articles were read on the State Council's own site. The Cyberspace Administration's copy returned 503.
Two things this page does not do. It does not say how the age rules are enforced in practice, because that is a question about behaviour rather than about a text. And it gives no operator names, prices or opening times for any particular establishment.
Frequently asked questions#
Can foreigners use an internet café in China?#
The regulation does not restrict customers by nationality. What it requires is that the operator check and register a valid identity document and record the session, keeping both for at least sixty days. Article 23 names the resident identity card and then refers to other valid documents without listing them, so what a given counter will accept is a practical matter rather than one the text resolves.
What time do internet cafés close in China?#
Midnight. Article 22 of the governing regulation limits daily opening hours to 08:00 to 24:00, which makes the all-night session a thing the rules do not allow rather than a thing that has fallen out of fashion.
Why can't under-18s enter an internet café in China?#
Article 21 prohibits operators from admitting minors to the premises at all, and requires a "no minors" sign in a prominent position at the entrance. It is an outright bar rather than a curfew or a supervised exception.
How many hours can minors play online games in China?#
One hour, from 20:00 to 21:00, on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays. A 2021 notice of the State Press and Publication Administration prohibits companies from providing online game services to minors at any other time in any form.
Do you need real ID to play games in China?#
Yes. Every online game must connect to the national anti-addiction real-name verification system, every account must be registered and logged in with genuine identity information, and companies may not serve unverified users in any form, expressly including guest-trial modes.
Are there spending limits on games for minors in China?#
Yes. Article 44 of the 2023 Regulations on the Protection of Minors Online requires operators to impose reasonable limits on both a single transaction and a daily total, graded by the age band of the player. The duty sits on the operator rather than on a parent switching something on.