“Just Like the Qing Empire:” Internet Addiction, MMOGs, and Moral Crisis in Contemporary China

Abstract

This article examines discourse about Internet addiction and video-game-related suicide in the People’s Republic of China. Through an analysis of media reportage, interview transcripts, and chat rooms, a preliminary account of the origins of contemporary Chinese concerns with Internet addiction is provided. This approach differs from biomedical models, which see Internet suicide as a form of mental illness, similar to drug or gambling addiction. This approach draws on anthropological and sociological models of the cultural construction of social problems and argues that concerns with Internet addiction are part of a more general moral crisis faced by Chinese, in response to rapid consumerism, the medicalization of mental illness, and new forms of public and publicity.