小孩子一个人去上学，父母总会担心会不会走丢，被坏人带走什么的，而每年的失踪儿童数量也是非常惊人的，北京现在给每个儿童发放一种特质的手机，可以告你孩子在哪里。现在不用怕会丢了。

You're listening to a ringtone. But not from any ordinary cell phone. This phone is bright red, strapped round my wrist like a watch and has been specifically designed to give to school children.

The phone is one of twenty thousand that the Beijing Red Cross Foundation is giving away free to parents to help them keep track of their children. Xian Yu is Director of the foundation. She explains the idea behind the project.

"Most families today only have one child, so we thought it would be a good idea if youngsters were given a special cell phone that could send messages to their parents. Beijing is a very busy city and children often lose their way. This kind of gadget can help them contact their parents immediately."

The phones have a special button that the children can press in an emergency. This automatically sends a text message containing its exact location to their parents. Back home, this information can be tracked on the internet, and the device can be programmed to send an alarm if the phone is taken out of a pre-defined safe area. Xian Yu says parents shouldn't be worried about the phones distracting children at school.

"When the kids are in class, the cell phone function can't be used so the devices effectively turn into ordinary watches. The parents are very supportive of this idea."

It may be a new scheme, but Beijing Red Cross Foundation's office is already busy with many people calling to apply for the new phones. One father has come here in person to pick up one the new gadgets.

"I read about this in the newspaper and I think it's a great idea, and very suitable for children. Parents can keep track of their little ones wherever they go. It's just something that can help give parents peace of mind. We'll only know exactly how good it is after we've used it."

Although the phones are free for Beijing residents, the service is not. Parents need to pay 840 yuan, approximately 130 dollars, to operate them for two years.

By the end of 2011, the Beijing Red Cross Foundation hopes to give one hundred thousand of these phones to children in Beijing with a view, eventually, of expanding the scheme across the whole of China.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire.

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