Crouching behind the rubble of a decrepit military base, you know that battle is approaching as the firing of weapons around you rings in your ears. Carnage surrounding you, your team flanks the enemy from behind and, after a short firefight, victory is yours!Though this scene may not seem like one that has a particularly positive influence on the youth of today, it can be seen that video games do not encourage people to act violently in real life and, instead, act as a perfect source of stress relief and allow the gamer to improve their visuospatial cognition and encourage a general sense of human wellness in players.

As homework starts to pile up, who isn’t stressed out by the numerous deadlines for projects and astounding amounts of extra-curricular commitments? At times, the best way to relieve this stress is to blow up the heads of monsters with your buddies as all of the anger and frustration that is built up during our everyday lives is slowly released. According to a study conducted by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital, gamers that played violent video games released so much of their stress in a thirty-minute to one-hour session that they were more focused and engaged on their schoolwork for the rest of the night. One such example of a stress-relieving video game is the ubiquitous, multi-million online battle arena platform League of Legends. League of Legends pits a team of players against another in attempts to destroy each other’s base. Many of us can probably recall the countless times where a group of stressed out friends would play a round or two of League and subsequently go their separate ways to do homework. I personally feel that playing a round of video games really lets me forget about my stress and releases my frustration into the quest of utterly annihilating the enemy team.

Additionally, so-called “violent” video games also help players develop visuospatial cognition, meaning that they condition players to take in the information given by their surroundings more efficiently and help them develop improved motor skills. Most people would assume that the solution to problems in such games is to go in guns blazing – but in reality, this is not the case. In the critically acclaimed game DayZ, the player must survive in a post apocalyptic world overrun by zombies while fending off diseases and scavenging for basic necessities. In a game like this, the player needsto utilize quick thinking to stay alive. Barricading the door might prevent zombies from getting in, but it might mean that you’re locked inside the room with another zombie with no escape. Camping out in the mountains might freeze the zombies to death, but it might mean that the player’s resources are exhausted at a faster rate. The development of the visuospatial cognition means that in real life, these gamers have the ability to react better in high-pressure situations.

Ever since the media has perpetuated the link between school shootings and violent video games, there has been ample controversy surrounding them. Contrary to the popular belief that violent games create violent people, a study conducted by The Center of Mental Health and Media (Harvard Medical School) argues a different side. According to the study, youth crime rates have declined sharply despite the ubiquitous presence of violent video games. It argues that violent game play is now so common that kids are frequently reminded of the relationship between action and consequence and can perceive the disastrous results that would entail if such actions were to be recreated in real life. As the study suggests, the after effects of violence in these violent video games actually are keeping teen crime rates low.

Tearing your eyes away from the LED screen, you power off your computer and go outside with your friends. Violent video games are not actually the negative influence that media has portrayed them as. There is no doubt that these games are beneficial as they help relieve stress, increase critical thinking skills and motor skills, and have an overall salutary effect on the youth of today.

This article originally appeared in the January, 2015 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Charles Chang, a student at the International School of Beijing.

About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.

Photo: Analea Gwendolyn (Flickr)

One year ago today, a sad incident at Joy City Chaoyang left a Chinese citizen and an American woman dead, and, when followed by an explosion at Beijing Capital International Airport three days later, left the Beijing community nervous about safety and security.

The Beijinger followed up with a local Public Security officer, Officer Sun, who offered suggestions that included, "Try not to go to places that are too crowded. If you happen to be in a crowded place, pay attention to the environment, especially people’s facial expressions. Try to go out in groups of at least two or more," and, if a violent incident or accident occurs, "Don’t stand around and watch, get to safety first. If there is an incident such a robbery or a violent act, do not try to catch or fight with the perpetrator. Your personal safety must take first priority," Officer Sun said. Read more of those suggestions here.

Here is our original report from July 17, 2013.

A Chinese citizen and a foreign national were stabbed to death around 5pm Wednesday outside the Joy City Chaoyang shopping mall Qingnian Lu by a 27-year-old man identifying himself as mentally ill, China Daily and Beijing Cream reported. [Warning: Beijing Cream’s report has graphic photos of the crime scene.]

The victims were not identified, nor was the nationality of the foreigner released, although the foreign national was identified as female. Joy City (Da Yue Cheng) complex is popular entertainment and shopping destination for east Fourth Ring Road residents. The Line 6 Qingnian Lu Station is also directly across the street from the mall.

The alleged perpetrator gave his surname as Xiao, indicated that he is from Yishui County in Shandong province, and claimed that he is mentally ill.

The incident occurs a year to the week after American Howard Thomas Mills was stabbed to death at Qianmen, on July 12, 2012, continuing a string of attacks directed at foreigners last summer. The early days of the 2008 Olympic Games were marred when Todd Bachman, father-in-law of the US men’s volleyball coach, was stabbed to death at the Drum Tower on August 9, 2008. His wife, Barbara, survived the attack.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on July 17, 2014.

Photo: The Beijinger TripAdvisor

The gloves are dropped, the sticks thrown away. An animalistic rumble of anticipation sweeps through the arena as the two grown men circle each other menacingly. And then suddenly, without warning, it’s on. The men lunge at each other and begin to pound away, unloading haymaker after haymaker, as blood begins to fly over the otherwise pristine sheet of ice. By now, the atmosphere inside the arena is absolutely electric, with thousands of fans cheering and jeering. And then as suddenly as it began, it’s over. The referees rush in to forcibly separate the two men who are known as‘enforcers’ in the sport of ice hockey. One stamps back to the locker room sporting a bloody cut to the head while the other one skates to the ‘sin bin’ to wait out his five minute penalty.

As a big hockey fan myself, I do not deny that I love watching fights, whether they be to defend teammates, to swing the momentum of a game, or act aspayback for a previous crime. However, in light of an incident in a National Hockey League game this year, I, along with most of the hockey world, have begun to question the necessity of the blood sport of fighting in hockey. In a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, forward Shawn Thornton challenged Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik to a fight. Orpik refused. Thornton responded by tripping Orpik and then pounding his head into the ice until he was unconscious. But behind their show of bravado and masculinity, enforcers often nurse long-term physical and mental injuries that we as fans do not see.

Bob Probert was a fan favorite who participated in 240 fights throughout his fifteen-year NHL career. At the age of forty-five, he suffered a fatal heart attack after which his brain was donated to science. Researchers at Boston University found that Probert suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a degenerative disease brought on through repetitive brain trauma. Symptoms include memory loss, dementia, and depression. In the context of fighting, repetitive brain trauma could be a result of repeated blows to the head. Although there is no definitive link yet between fighting and CTE, researchers are finding more and more evidence that seems to point to this conclusion.

To enforcers such as Buffalo Sabres’ defense man John Scott, fighting is a difficult, yet necessary component of their professional lives. “I’ve stayed up nights not sleeping a wink because I know I’m going to fight someone the next day,” said Scott. “It’s not natural to go out and fight everyday, or to have that constant threat of a fight…Some guys might not be able to sleep, and they take some stuff to t help them sleep.” This fear led to the eventual substance abuse-related death of enforcer Derek Boogaard, who played for the Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers.  Despite the pressure, enforcers continue to fight, as it is seen as the only way that these less-skilled players can make it to the big leagues alongside their superstar peers.

Although fighting in hockey is a long and storied tradition that continues to draw droves of fans to the game, to support the continuation of fighting would be to ignore the plight of enforcers as human beings. Because of this, the constant fighting in the sport of ice hockey should come to an abrupt and definite close.

This article originally appeared in the April,2014 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Edward Chang, a student at the International School of Beijing.

About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.

Photo courtesy of wikimedia commons

The makers of a popular cartoon have been fined almost RMB 40,000 by a Jiangsu court after two children suffered severe burns imitating the show’s characters.

The pair, brothers aged 5 and 8, were badly injured when a third child imitating a character from Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (喜羊羊与灰太狼) tied them to a tree and started a fire with dry leaves.

Flames spread uncontrollably before the brothers were rescued by locals in a village in Jiangsu Province’s Lianyungang. The incident, which took place in April this year, left both victims disfigured, with the younger brother suffering burns to 80 percent of his body.

The production group behind the cartoon, Creative Power Entertaining Company, was found legally responsible for the injuries. The court concluded that the company had been negligent in its duty to warn viewers of the potential risks of copying the animated violence featured in the show.

The official verdict, delivered on Wednesday, said that it was the responsibility of producers to “rigorously review” their content and, in the case of violent scenes or plots, warn young viewers against attempts to imitate.

Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, a children’s show that airs daily on Chinese television, features the usual array of cartoon violence, with characters regularly hit with frying pans and dropped into boiling water. The incident that injured the young brothers is purported to be a direct imitation of a scene where the Big Big Wolf ties the goat character to a tree and contemplates eating her like a kebab.

The RMB 39,000 fine will act as compensation for the boys’ families, though it allegedly covers just 15 percent of their medical expenses. The guardians of the 8-year-old child who started the blaze are expected to pay a further 60 percent for his actions, while the victim’s parents are expected to cover the remaining 25 percent.

Image: Weilai Wang

The Wall Street Journal ‘s China Real Time Report blogs about the growing international  appeal of China’s homegrown cartoon phenomenon "Pleasant Goat" (a.k.a "Xi Yang Yang" 喜洋洋) whose ubiquitous animal characters have now supplanted the likes of Mickey Mouse and Garfield as the country’s number one childhood obsession.

According to the post, "Pleasant Goat" is being distributed by Disney "in over 52 markets around the Asia Pacific region" in such markets as "Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the Philippines and India with voice-overs in many different languages and dialects," and its producer boasts that many of its overseas fans "may not even know the show originated in China."

While the show’s overseas success of can be construed as a step up for China’s ongoing struggles with projecting "soft power,"  I daresay that one well-received children’s cartoon makes little difference in the bigger picture when it comes to China’s PR issues abroad. After all, even Hollywood’s juggernaut of American pop culture propaganda hasn’t dissuaded anti-American sentiment in some corners of the world.

Geopolitics aside, "Pleasant Goat" isn’t all that "soft" either — I’m going to state for the record that as a parent I loathe this show. The episodes I’ve watched with my daughter appear to be of little educational value and are riddled with violence. Granted, it’s of the cartoon variety  – in the vein of old school "Tom and Jerry" (from which this show seems to have drawn inspiration) – but with virtually an entire age bracket of kids in China aping the show’s regular displays of shoving, punching, kicking, slapping, clubbing  and other forms of physical assault on themselves and one another, it raises some serious questions about what (aside from money) the producers are thinking.

Of course this is not a culturally specific phenomenon – I was exposed to a steady stream of cartoon violence when I was growing up in the US in the 1970s and 80s (even today, I wonder how my own psyche and perceptions of violence in society were shaped, or warped, by the types of programming I watched as a child) – but the sheer number of kids, particularly little boys, I see running around hitting, shoving and bopping each other on the head as they imitate "Xi Yang Yang" (the main goat character) and "Hui Tai Lang" (the Wolf character) is still troubling. Other factors are at play, of course, and most of these kids will turn out just fine, but these counterbalancing factors don’t make the show any less repugnant to me – I can’t help but wonder what long-term effects shows like these have on kids in general.

Some parents, especially those who say and do nothing when their kid walks up and hits another kid for no real reason, are well-deserving of criticism; but it’s much more complicated: in a society where kids are exposed to a steady barrage of Pleasant Goat imagery on posters, cups, t-shirts, bags and even primary school walls, it’s hard to imagine how all the merchandising and desensitized violence would not leave an indelible impression on small children.

There are, of course, problems and issues with raising a kid in China that far outweigh one poorly conceived (and received) cartoon, but China’s warp-speed pace of change means that the effects exerted by all these societal pressures on kids are all-the-more amplified. 

I’m fully aware that kids are by nature, kids – boisterous, mischievous and at times inherently violent. Nor do I necessarily subscribe to the "absolutely no TV" rule in some households (we had these rules in our family for a few years and it only made TV seem so much more like tempting forbidden fruit to be indulged at any opportune moment). But surely China’s biggest central programmer can produce something better than this swill for the hundreds of millions of kids out there? And as for Pleasant Goat’s great potential for "projecting power" – I wouldn’t disagree, but in this case I’m not quite sure "soft" is the correct term. 

A not-altogether inaccurate parody of "Bad Bad Wolf" in the acrylic painting "Hui Tang Lang Day" by "btchvsjoel," for sale on etsy.com