China bans minors from playing video games for more than three hours a week

The new rules, published on Monday, are part of a major shift by Beijing to strengthen control over its society and key sectors of its economy, including tech, education and property, after years of runaway growth.

China has forbidden under-18s from playing video games for more than three hours a week, a stringent social intervention that it said was needed to pull the plug on a growing addiction to what it once described as "spiritual opium".

Under the new rules, young people are only allowed to spend an hour playing online games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and during holidays. They can only play during 8pm to 9pm.