NOTE: This post has been changed since it was first published. See below.

China's ban on time travel television shows is back in the spotlight this week.

Two young girls in China's coastal Fujian province have allegedly committed suicide after having been inspired by a television series about traveling back into the Qing Dynasty, according to a report by state-owned China Daily.

The children, both 12, drowned in a pond near their homes in the Fujian city of Zhangzhou last week, leaving behind a suicide note in which one girl indicated her death was motivated by dreams of traveling to space and of shooting a film with the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the report said.

Recalling debates in the U.S. about the link between violent video games and shooting incidents like those at Columbine High School and Virginia Tech, the China Daily report claims that incidents such as this one are what prompted the government's move last year to ban all television series based on time travel.

Shows that explore traveling to earlier eras have inspired extremes among Chinese citizens, the China Daily story said. A woman in northern Liaoning province paid 1,800 yuan, or $285, to a friend who claimed she could help the Liaoning woman escape to an ancient era. After her friend suddenly disappeared with the money, the Liaoning woman reported the incident to the police, the report said.

Some media experts in China dispute the theory that TV-inspired suicides sparked the government's ban, noting that it was more likely that officials disagreed with the themes of the shows, which centered on escaping discontent in the current era to journey back in time to a better life.

In recent months, China's media regulators have been cracking down on entertainment in attempt to bolster the government's voice in daily society as China's leaders embark on a once-in-a-decade transition.

Media watchdogs banned in February foreign TV series from airing during prime time. In January, they cut more than two-thirds of prime-time TV entertainment programs, such as dating and reality shows, broadcast on satellite stations, targeting what they called "excessive entertainment and a trend toward low taste."

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced earlier this week in a speech to the nation a government plan to create more "social codes of conduct, professional ethics, family virtues, and individual integrity."

A newspaper in Southeast China conducted an informal survey of elementary school students, finding that 14 of 16 children believed that time travel was possible. It did not say whether it asked the students if they believed death was the only method through which they could travel in time.

China Daily didn't say what TV series is believed to have inspired the girl's note and time-travel desires. In most of China's time-travel dramas, characters visited earlier eras through non-fatal means, such as looking in the mirror, possessing certain antiques or attaining zero gravity by means of a magical material.

Nor was a longing for time travel the only factor in the Fujian tragedy. The China Daily report also said that one of the girls who committed suicide was fearful of going home because she had lost the remote control to her parents' garage.

"I often provoke my mother's unhappiness, and I'm sorry," the China Daily's Chinese version reported the girl as having written in her suicide note.

CORRECTION: A newspaper in southeast China reported on a survey that found 14 out of 16 elementary school students thought time-travel was possible. An earlier version of this post mistakenly identified the survey subjects as middle school students. Thanks to a reader for pointing out the error.

-- Laurie Burkitt. Follow her on Twitter @lburkitt

Like China Real Time on Facebook for the latest updates.