On April 8, 2024, Wang Hongxia, a judge from the Beijing Internet Court (BIC)'s third Comprehensive Division (juvenile tribunal), gave an online legal literacy lecture to over 200 junior high school students in Weishan Yi and Hui autonomous county of Dali Bai autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Yunnan province, with more than 1,000 students from across the county joining online.

Among the 300-plus juvenile disputes adjudicated by the BIC, many involved left-behind children in remote areas. Some incurred financial losses to their families for tipping live-streaming hosts or topping up online games, while others provoked online disputes due to the mishandling of offline conflicts. Recognizing the urgent need to enhance the online legal literacy of minors, judges from the BIC spent the last year visiting 16 districts in Beijing, and have developed a set of standardized online legal literacy courses, receiving wide recognition among students, parents and educators.  

How to improve minors' online legal literacy has been a major challenge for judges of the primary people's court of Weishan county. From the cases they have handled, they have observed that many parents are working away from home, making it difficult to supervise their children’s online activities. Therefore it is pervasive that minors start accessing the internet at a young age, resulting in them being exposed to dangers from cyberspace and causing more online-related disputes.  

In light of these considerations and as part of a special campaign on minor protection in Dali prefecture, the Weishan court invited judges from the BIC to deliver a lecture on online legal literacy to local children. Led by Sun Mingxi, standing member of the BIC's adjudication committee, a team of BIC judges visited Weishan county on a mission of legal education for local children.

During the lecture, Judge Wang introduced  the internet use among minors and relevant legislation based on typical cases and preliminary research on the online surfing characteristics of minors in the county. She cautioned on the risks posed by their internet use, introduced approaches to enhance online literacy, and highlighted precautions for online surfing, such as using minor's mode to protect their personal information.

The one-hour lecture ended with vivid interactions and Wang presenting the school with a cartoon atlas of typical cases of online disputes involving minors compiled by the BIC.

After the lecture, the BIC judges also watched a moot court prepared and performed by students from the Weishan vocational high school. Sun commended the performance and answered questions from the students.