A mother in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality became addicted to making friends on the Internet and eloped with her netizen boyfriend, her daughter said,

Xiao Na, the alias for the teenager daughter, used to surf on the Internet, and her resultant under-achievement alerted her mother, whose name was not given.

The mother decided to try the Internet and hoped to "play an exemplary role" to set an example for the daughter, a 14-year-old junior middle school student.

Unfortunately the mother, in her mid 30s, learned to chat online and became addicted to the Internet, usually staying at Internet cafes for half a day or even around the clock, according to the daughter.

Xiao Na said her mother finally "fell in love" with one of her male cyber friends, and eloped with him after the two had a face-to-face meeting.

Xiao Na has suspended her schooling to look for her mother, whose whereabouts remained unknown. Xiao Na's father became depressed after wife's disappearance.

The widespread use of the Internet in China has caused many new social problems unheard of before. Many children have become addicted to online games and chatting, and neglected their study. In a recent tragedy in the same city two junior middle school students were crushed to death by a train, when they fell asleep on the track after they played online games non-stop for 48 hours in a local unlicensed Internet bar.

Source: Xinhua