2016年CRI Do You Know How to Go back Home when Got Lost

"If I was lost, I would wait where I was lost. If I couldn't find my parents at the school gate, I would ask our school faculty 1 for help. If I got lost in the park, I would turn to the park security staff for help; if it was at shopping center, I would go to the receptionist for help."

Eight-year-old Guo Rui says she's been taught both at home and at school not to wander around on her own or go off with strangers.

Ms. Li is the mother of a 3-year-old girl. She says she has taught her daughter how to protect herself by telling her stories.

"She has started to read books. These books include stories telling children to beware of strangers especially when they try to attract them with sweets and toys. I gradually raised her safety awareness 2 through telling stories and reading books to her. Just now when I was playing hide and seek with her, a grandpa played trick with her and asked her to go with him. I told her that she should not go, but instead shout 'mama, mama' loudly."

Criminologist Zhou Junshan, from the People's Public Security University, says children's safety education is taught in many schools, and children and parents living in cities generally have a strong awareness of child safety issues, and clearly know what to do when kids get lost.

But he says the situation in rural areas, and for the children of migrant works is a matter for concern.

Zhou cited the example of three children who went missing in the mountains in Zhejiang province last February as an example. Although the oldest child was already 12-year-old, she had no idea how to help them find safety. They were eventually found three days after going missing, then the outcome could have been very different.

Zhou Junshan says there are several ways to ensure the safety of children.

"Firstly, we must ensure migrant children get proper schooling 3, as we have found that most missing children come from migrant families, so they are not allowed to go to school in their host cities, or maybe stay in the rural areas without parents to guide them. Secondly 4, many people have suggested putting together specialized 5 textbooks or extracurricular stories. Thirdly, we need to raise the parents' awareness of guardianship 6, especially young parents. Fourthly, we need to make full use of advanced equipment such as GPS technology and camera monitoring systems."

Many private platforms and funds have been established in recent years to help in the search for missing children and have attracted a large public involvement.

However, Zhou Junshan believes although public engagement is welcomed, the public security authority remains 7 the dominant 8 power in seeking lost children.

A few days ago, the Ministry 9 launched an alert system for children who go missing. As soon as they get reports of a missing child, a network of more than 5,000 anti-trafficking police share updates via an app, including photos and physical descriptions.

If a child has been missing for less than an hour, the information will be sent to people within a 100 kilometer radius 10; if the child has been lost for over three hours, the coverage 11 will reach up to 500 kilometers.

Zhou said it was necessary to expand the range of information spreading as human traffickers are able to travel quickly using modern transport means.

"Human traffickers now commit trans-provincial crimes. Once they carry out an adbuction, they'll seek to transfer kids quickly to other provinces. So it is necessary to spread information about missing children by about 100 kilometers per hour."

The information will also be available on Gaode Mobile Map Service, and the system's official Sina Weibo account.

Already the authorities have published information about 19 missing children. One two-year-old girl has already been rescued as a result of the new system.

For CRI, this is Huang Shan.