By Chris Chang, posted Jan 13, 2011 at 1:40 PM, 661 views,

20,000 GPS Cellphones Distributed to Kids in Beijing

Good news, China has carried out a GPS cellphone scheme in Beijing to keep kids safe. Just in case you are unaware of the danger for kids in China, there’s at least 200,000 children go missing in the country each year, and face many other safety risks. To solve this issue, the Beijing Red Cross Foundation (BRCF) will offer 20,000 GPS cellphones to the city’s primary and secondary school students for their safety. This let us wonder if foreigners in China need one too?

The kids in Beijing will get a watch-shaped cellphone with talking and text message functions, and it even allows parents to locate where their children are! There’s a lot of positive feedback from the parents, and a Beijing resident surnamed Li said his son had one during the test-run period and it was very helpful. How to get one? Beijing residents need to apply for the cellphone for their school going kids, via the official website of the fund or visit their offices. The cellphone costs 840 yuan (about $127) for two year’s GPS and telecommunication services and since it’s now only available in Beijing, the fund plans to provide such phones to more Chinese regions, especially Shenzhen (the city with most kids gone missing).

Source: CRIENGLISH

TAGS: Culture:China, , , , , , ,
  • Anonymous

    I Don’t know if foreigners should get these, maybe the chinese government could issue them on entry and then they’d know where all the foreigners were!!

  • Anonymous

    don’t worry, foreigner kids don’t need one cause they’d never be abducted. which Chinese parent ever want to raise a “white” kid as their successor to continue their family genealogy??

    adult foreigners are valuable cause they can act as props during business meetings and such.
    child foreigners are useless cause they’re gonna grow up talking in mandarin, acting Chinese and defeat the purpose of being props.