Beijing Homelink Real Estate Service, located in Chaoyang, offers its 6,000 stores to serve as “guardian stations” for kids who went missing. (Photo : Getty Images)
Beijing Homelink Real Estate Service, also called Lianjia, offers help to missing children by asking them to go to any Lianjia outlet, reported the Global Times.
The company said that its 6,000 branches will serve as a “guardian station” beginning May 25, the celebration of the International Missing Children’s Day.
Lianjia also said that it collaborates with China’s Child Safety Emergency Response, an online platform that helps lost kids.
One employee told the Global Times that they will undergo training and will be the one to notify the police for every missing child that will go to their shop.
Other employees said that their agents, given the nature of their job, are familiar with the neighborhood, so they can also be of help when it comes to locating the families of these missing children.
The company’s shops are open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Public response both praises and castigates the company.
For those who see the brighter side of things, one said that police needs help from business entities because they cannot handle all cases of missing kids.
Tong Xiaojun, a dean at China Youth University for Political Sciences, said that Lianjia’s plan is “praiseworthy” as it observes its social responsibility.
On the contrary, several police officers themselves repel the idea regarding these guardian stations.
The police force in Chongqing Municipality and Jiangsu Province agree that missing children should better stay where they are until their parents find them or approach a police officer for help.
Wang Hongwei, an associate professor at the Renmin University of China, noted that majority of Lianjia’s shops are located in major cities and most cases of missing children took place in small cities.
Tencent Charity and Zhongshe Social Work Development Foundation launched China’s Child Safety Emergency Response in Nov. 2015, which was already initiated in May of that year, according to China Development Brief. CCSER went online during the launch.
Zhang Yongjiang, the secretary-general of CCSER, told the China Internet Information Center that Lianjia will also cooperate with other companies on its endeavor to help missing children.
