The First China Internet Gaming Finals will be held from Nov. 22 to Nov. 24 in Shanghai, said an official from the Internet Society of China (ISC).
China Internet Gaming (CIG) will be an annual event consisting of three parts, chess and card games, war games, and mobile phone games.
The preliminary competitions began in April and drew some 320,000 participants, 120,000 of whom took part in the chess and card games.
The organizing committee of CIG hopes that this finals competition will challenge Guinness World Records in such fields as the number of total participants, text-message users, on-line players, chess and card games players, and opening ceremony attendance.
As of the end of 2001, the number of Internet users in China had reached 33.7 million, according to a January 2002 report on China's internet industry. Playing games on the internet has become one of the most popular activities among internet surfers, especially among young men.
(People's Daily October 11, 2002)
