Chinese teenager beaten to death in internet addiction clinic

His parents hoped their teenage son would be home in a month, cured of his addiction to the internet. They never thought that within 10 hours of taking him to an addiction clinic they would receive a telephone call notifying them that he was dead.

Deng Senshan, 16, was addicted to playing on the internet, like tens of millions of other young Chinese. He was just the latest teenager to be sent by his parents to one of the clinics being set up across China to cure youngsters of their obsession with online gaming.

His parents took their son to the Guangxi Qihuang Survival Training Camp in southern China on Saturday, paying 7,000 yuan (£605) for a month of treatment. Deng Fei, his father, told supervisors that his son was shy and introverted and they should avoid putting too much pressure on him during the first couple of days. They agreed.



Instead, the boy was placed in solitary confinement shortly after his arrival and then beaten by his trainers who scolded him for running too slowly when he was ordered to go jogging. He was pronounced dead in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mr Deng said: “My son was very healthy and was not a criminal. He just had an internet addiction when I left him at the camp. We can't believe our only son was beaten to death." He had signed an agreement with the camp to help his son “get away from bad behaviour, regain confidence and establish positive life attitudes”. The contract also states: "The centre can take necessary approaches including punishment to educate the teenager, as long as the approaches will not abuse the child or impair his health."

Police said four people have been arrested in connection with the death of the teenager. One officer said: "We are investigating a case where a high school student was beaten to death by his camp supervisors. The case is still under investigation."