The majority of the 110,000-plus Chinese Internet cafes will be put under the management of large chain store companies within three years, as part of efforts by the government to rein in the fledgling and troublesome business.

　　This was revealed on Saturday by Liu Yuzhu, director of the Cultural Market Department of the Ministry of Culture, at the First China International Exposition on Online Culture in Beijing.

　　In June 2002, some people set fire in a Beijing Internet cafe, killing 25 and injuring 13, which triggered a crackdown on unlicensed operations. As a result, the number of Internet shops dropped from 200,000 to 110,000.

　　Less than 100 chain store operators will be set up in the future, to help regulate and standardize the sector.

　　Not all of the Internet cafes will be chains, but the government will issue relevant regulations to ensure the healthy operations of these individual shops, according to the official.

　　Meanwhile, Liu said that the online game industry has enormous market potential.

　　In 2002, China's online game industry pocketed 910 million yuan (US million), compared to 310 million yuan in 2003.In the same year, Chinese telecommunications operators earned 6.83 billion yuan from online game players, seven times the sales of the online game business.

　　The number of online game players in 2002 doubled from 4 million of the previous year.

　　In 2001, each of local online game players spent 15.6 yuan per month, and in 2002, the spending reached 18.8 yuan, according to the official.