Minors can enter and exit at will without the need of a guardian to "stay overnight" without registering their identity information. The
private theater actually "opens a room" for the child, you have to manage it!
At the moment, there are even private theaters that provide accommodation services, but do not need to show ID cards.
This has resulted in many minors being able to enter private theaters for entertainment and accommodation without being accompanied by a guardian.
During the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress this year, Lu Man, a deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of the Tianhe Ecological Agriculture Professional Cooperative in Jianhu County, Jiangsu Province, submitted a proposal on the supervision of private theaters.
She said that private theaters are in a regulatory gap, there are security risks, and there will be some juvenile-related crimes.
Luman said that in recent years, private cinemas have become popular in large and medium-sized cities across the country.
And some teenagers also regard private theaters as the "first choice" for leisure entertainment and parties.
Luman had previously learned that rape and drug abuse are prone to occur in private theaters.
In addition, due to the small and closed rooms of private theaters, some have hidden fire hazards, which are easy to damage the physical and mental health and safety of minors.
In this regard, a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily launched an investigation.
Minors "dating" in private theaters
One day at the beginning of 2021, Ms. Wang, who lives somewhere in northern Jiangsu, found that her 13-year-old daughter Tiantian (pseudonym), who was in the first year of junior high, did not come home late at night after leaving school.
In the end, the local police found Tiantian and her classmate Xiaolei (pseudonym) in a private cinema.
It is understood that the two are male and female friends and came to a private theater to "date".
After investigation, there was no substantive sexual activity between the two parties. From the perspective of protecting minors, the police criticized and educated the two children and their parents.
"Having sex with a young girl under the age of 14 is rape." Li Xiang, a prosecutor in the local prosecutor's office, said that Xiaolei's behavior was "wandering" on the verge of breaking the law.
What worries Li Xiang even more is that in 2020, two cases of crimes against minors that occurred in similar private theaters were handled locally.
Private cinema rooms are closed, teenagers partying, and even smoking "laughing gas", etc., are not easy to be found.
"Private theaters that are not strictly regulated can easily become a 'hotbed' for crimes." Li Xiang pointed out.
Later, when Li Xiang visited and investigated local private theaters, he also found that although private theaters are called movie viewing places, the rooms are mostly furnished with sofas, beds, tatami and other facilities for rest, and some places also provide "night-only service". .
Because such places have not been included in the special industry, minors can enter and leave at will without the escort of a guardian, and they can "open a room" without registering their identity information.
"Under this kind of chaos, the public security organs are unable to grasp the information of people entering, leaving and staying overnight." Li Xiang learned during the handling of the case that students in the area frequently went in and out of private theaters.
In reality, most private cinemas are "unlicensed operations".
Li Xiang found that there are nearly 100 private theaters in the local area, but less than 10% of them are qualified and registered.
What is even more surprising is that some unlicensed private theaters can be searched on online platforms such as Meituan.
According to Li Xiang, these places are highly private, with dark locks inside the doors, tightly closed windows, and strong sound insulation.
It is not uncommon for minors to gather in private theaters to smoke "laughing gas" and electronic cigarettes. It also happens that they are violated during film screenings and have no way to call for help.
Zhu Xiaoyan, deputy director of the First Procuratorate of the People's Procuratorate of Changzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, Jiangsu Province, also paid attention to the chaos in private theaters.
In April 2019, in a local private cinema, an 18-year-old man had a sexual relationship with the girl knowing that he was under 14 years old, and was finally sentenced to 4 years in prison.
After the incident, Zhu Xiaoyan also visited the private theaters in Changzhou, and ordered the private theaters involved to make rectifications together with the local public security organs.
The simple case brought prosecutors to the attention of chaos in private theaters.
"These places seem to be playing a borderline ball." Zhu Xiaoyan believes that on-demand cinemas should take special industry-related control measures, which should be strictly regulated by public security and other departments.
Some of these private theaters are set up in apartment buildings and residential areas. These houses are not legally allowed to be used for commercial use. Factors such as fire safety have also become loopholes in private theaters.
In addition, relevant departments should verify as soon as possible whether these films have been authorized by the theater chain, and whether there is any infringement of intellectual property rights in private theaters.
Private cinema "night package" does not require an ID card
A few days ago, reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily searched for keywords such as "private theater" and "private movie cafe" on online platforms such as Meituan and found that there are hundreds of related stores.
Not long ago, the reporter also made an unannounced visit to a private cinema near the Xinjiekou business district in Qinhuai District, Nanjing.
The reporter purchased a two-hour viewing volume in a private theater at a price of 139 yuan.
The private theater has a total of 12 rooms, each room is about 10 square meters, and the sound insulation effect is very good.
The reporter found that the business of private theaters is booming, and customers come into the store for consultation and movie viewing from time to time.
"Most of them are young people, and there are also children. Most of them are students at school. During the holidays, a few friends come to get together." The front desk staff said that there are training institutions nearby, and many students will come here to "rest".
The reporter found that the rooms of the shop have different styles, such as Japanese tatami, starry sky roof, puppet wall... Each style of room is dimly lit, and most of them have simple decorations on one wall, a bed, a projection, etc. decorations.
In the room, because the room is airtight and has no windows, the temperature in the room is very high, and it also needs air conditioning to adjust the temperature in winter.
In the narrow room, the reporter did not find any obvious signs of escape routes.
In addition, the reporter found that there are a large number of horror and violent movies in the "film library" of the private theater, and these channels do not have the sign that "minors are prohibited from watching".
The reporter asked the staff: If I "pack the night", do I need an ID card?
The staff replied clearly: "No need."
Later, the reporter visited a number of private cinemas in Nanjing and found that these private cinemas were hidden in office buildings and apartment buildings, with inadequate firefighting facilities, narrow escape routes, and were not connected to the public security system, posing great potential safety hazards.
In addition, most of these private theaters provide overnight movie viewing services, in which consumers are not required to provide ID cards for facial recognition verification.
At present, most of these private theaters are booming, and the price of "movie viewing" will rise every Saturday and Sunday.
Private cinemas should be included in special industry supervision
The reporter learned that in 2021, there will be 6,633 public interest lawsuits filed by procuratorial organs across the country for the protection of minors, which is 4.2 times that of 2020 and 3.3 times that of 2018 and 2019 combined.
Among them, there were 4,676 new types of public interest litigation cases involving the sale of tobacco and alcohol to minors, online games, the safety of minors' activity venues and facilities, the safety of campuses, and the governance of emerging formats such as on-demand theaters, e-sports hotels, and secret room script killings. accounted for 70.5%,
Although the public security, procuratorial and legal departments in many places have discovered the potential safety hazards behind the gaps in the supervision of private theaters, they have also "plugged the leaks" in time. However, since the governance of emerging formats like private theaters requires top-level design, during the National People's Congress this year, the National People's Congress representative Lu Lu Mann suggested that relevant departments should strictly regulate the approval and operation of private theaters.
Playing movies belongs to the franchise industry, and the projection unit shall apply for a movie projection business license and conduct annual verification and registration.
Public security organs, market supervision and administration bureaus and other departments should carry out investigations on private theaters within their jurisdictions, regulate the business scope, business hours, and selection of on-demand films of private theaters, and promptly ban and punish those with incomplete qualifications, procedures, or violations of laws and regulations.
Luman emphasized that the relevant departments should include private theaters in the special industry for supervision.
Carry out strict identity registration, explicitly prohibit the reception of minors for independent consumption, and strengthen the protection of minors by operators; relevant functional departments should also increase joint supervision of such places, and conduct regular inspections on public security, fire protection, sanitation, etc. Inspection; ensure the safety and standardization of private theater facilities, and eliminate the "white space" of legal supervision.
Luman said that private theaters should also strictly abide by the relevant provisions of the law on the protection of minors.
It is clearly stipulated in the Law on the Protection of Minors that accommodation operators such as hotels, guesthouses, hotels and other accommodation operators shall ask for the contact information of parents or other guardians, and the identity of the occupants when they accept minors, or accept minors and adults to stay together. Relationships and other relevant circumstances; if suspected of breaking the law or crime, they should immediately report to the public security organ, and promptly contact the minor’s parents or other guardians.
Luman said that relevant departments should strictly supervise the operation of private theaters, and conduct targeted inspections or crackdowns on related chaos: there is no fixed and clearly indicated escape route in the theater; the room is small and airtight, and it is not suitable for escape in emergency situations. , calling for help; not hanging business licenses and other relevant licenses at the front desk or conspicuous locations.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Li Chao, intern source: China Youth Daily