Addressing the Inaugural “Xin” Philanthropy Conference held in Hangzhou on Saturday, Wei Hong, a leader of the alert system from Alibaba, said that the system has saved 46 children in just one month by sending messages to users of online mapping service Amap. The alert system, named “Tuanyuan,” which translates to "reunion" in English, is operated by over 5,000 police officers across China, thepaper.cn reported.

New alerts are immediately published on the Sina Weibo account of an online platform specifically created by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) for finding missing children. At the same time, all Amap users following the MPS platform receive a notice.

According to Wei, users located close to the site where a child has been reported missing receive the notice first, and users located within a 100-kilometer radius of the site receive the notice one hour later. After three hours, the notice spreads as far as 500 kilometers.

“Child traffickers often travel between cities and provincial regions, and a child can be transferred within hours,” Wei explained.

The MPS platform, launched on May 15, has so far broadcast 61 notices. A total of 46 missing children have been found as of June 15, including two abducted children and 29 runaways. Among them, 12 were found dead, according to an official MPS post.

Amap had over 500 million users across China as of January, while the MPS platform has over 290,000 followers on Sina Weibo.

The alert system was designed jointly by the MPS and Alibaba for police officers nationwide. Alibaba has invited Amap and Sina Weibo to spread the information, and the company has plans to utilize still more resources to combat child trafficking, thepaper.cn reported.

“Even if you have not seen a missing child, reposting the notice can still be meaningful,” Wei noted.