Shanghai crackdown to prevent underage teens’ Karaoke club visits

SHANGHAI - Shanghai is tightening its supervision of entertainment venues as more and more teenagers flock to karaoke clubs during school holidays for the spring festival.

Shanghai Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Unit said it was aware of some karaoke television clubs, or KTVs, being lax in checking the age of their patrons.

Rules specify people younger than the age of 18 are not allowed entry to KTVs and other entertainment venues that are deemed to be unhealthy to the personal development of juveniles. The list also includes Internet cafes, nightclubs and video game halls.

KTV operators, however, said that young people make up the majority of their customers during the holiday seasons.

“Winter break is always one of the peak times for us and teenagers are one of our major customer groups. We don’t mind paying the fines for admitting under-aged customers. The fines are a small amount compared to the potential income,” The China Daily quoted staff member at a KTV in Shanghai, as saying.

KTV operators also claimed that they don’t usually check the identity cards of their customers, but they rely on their experienced staff to keep the under-aged customers out.

“We depend on experience to identify the under-aged among the teenagers and by the way they dress and talk,” said a spokesman of Shanghai Gecheng, one of the largest karaoke chains in the city. eanwhile, a 17-year-old high school student in the district, Pan Bo, said: “KTV is clean and healthy. I don’t see anything filthy at all. It’s just a place for fun. We deserve a little fun after uch a long term at school. We teenagers also need a social life.” (ANI)