In the West, an Internet cafe is where backpackers go to check email. In China, it's where kids too poor to afford PCs go to kick back and play videogames, chat with their sweethearts and watch movies downloaded off the Internet. Internet cafes are the new places to catch a movie. "You can even smoke," exults one young man.

 "It's very easy to find any movie," says one cafe visitor, who estimates that 20% of users come to the cafes to watch a movie.

"Nearly all of the movie-watching that goes on in Internet cafes, as far as we have observed, is of illegal downloads," says Mike Ellis, senior VP and regional director for Asia-Pacific for the MPA.

Not surprisingly, China's richest cities -- Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai -- are the largest hubs of illegal online film viewing, with annual averages of 16.9, 16.3 and 15.8 films per person, respectively. But folks in the provincial towns and villages are watching, too.

Internet viewing handily beats TV. In a survey by the China Youth Daily and Sina in January, more than 80% of youngsters say the Web is their primary source of entertainment, ahead of TV, at 66%.

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