Beijing doesn’t like how Chinese Gen-Z is spending its time. Seems the Private lives of Chinese citizens are not so private anymore as China is issuing guideline on how its citizens must live.

Beijing’s new rules dictate:

How much times kids spend on playing online video games

When and how students can take after school classes

Which entertainers with what type of looks people can watch on TV

What kind of activities fans can take part in to support their celebrity idols

Earlier this month, china’s state media had called online games as ‘spiritual opium’. While young gamers in china will not be happy over China’s new restriction on online gaming, many parents applauded the governments decision to limit online gaming time for kids. After recent celebrity scandals, china is doubling efforts to curtail the influence of celebrity fan culture. The cyberspace administration of china also announced 10 measure to ‘clean up’ the ‘chaos’ of celebrity fan clubs.

China’s top internet regulator is also barring many shows from charging fans to vote online. Critics have slammed the Chinese communist party (CCP) for promoting gender stereotype and discrimination.

Chinese president Xi Jinping wants CCP’s dominance in shaping the private lives of Chinese citizens. China has stringent rules on video games, moves, music and censors anything it considers a violation of socialist values. Many Chinese feels the crackdown is reminiscent of Chinas Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976.

Expression of individualism was wiped out during the cultural revolution under Mai Zedong’s reign. After the cultural revolution ended with Mao’s death in 1976, china focused on developing the economy. Rapid economic growth, exposure to the outside world and the emergence of social media opened options for Chinese youth.

Unlike the 1960s, it’s a challenge for Xi to take away the freedoms Chinese people have grown accustomed to. Ever since Xi Jinping rose to power in 2012, he has sought to enhance the role of CCP in all areas of society. Xi’s effort to shape the life of Gen Z is being seen as the most aggressive in the country’s recent history. Experts believe the main intention behind CCP’s crackdown is to return to the essence of socialism. Xi’s CCP is worried that China’s youth has become victim of the influence ‘western values’. The government hope the youth will use their free time engage in physical activity and study the ‘Xi Jinping thought’

Xi’s political philosophy is now a part of primary-school curriculums to cultivate loyalty and compliance to XI and the CCP