WANG Xuebin, a 65-year-old retiree in Shanghai, is always on alert when her 4-year-old granddaughter plays outside in the community. Whether the little girl is playing alone or with other kids, Wang watches closely.

“I have to keep my eyes on her, in case any danger should approach. After learning of so many stories about children being kidnapped, I dare not relax one second when she plays outside,” she adds.

Wang is just one of numerous vigilant parents and grandparents and in China today. It’s easy to spot the grown-up “tied” to each kid playing in a neighborhood garden or park. And it’s common to see a big group of adults waiting outside the gates of kindergartens, primary schools and even middle schools when the final bell rings.

The safety of children is, of course, a priority for every family but Chinese parents seemingly never drop their guard.

An estimated 70,000 children in the country are trafficked each year, becoming victims of illegal adoption, forced labor or the sex trade. More than 16,000 primary and middle school students die unnaturally each year, the Education Administration and Public Security Administration said years ago. News of children being sexually assaulted by strangers, neighbors or even teachers has pushed more parents to the edge with worry.

Independent research organization HorizonKey this week released a report on opinions about the safety of primary and middle school students.

Parents worry most about “the way home” as 78.9 percent of survey respondents said it’s the most likely time for something to go wrong. It is followed by “entertainment venues” at 57.5 percent and “within school” at 31.9 percent. Only 9.6 percent of respondents believe “at home” is where safety problems may most easily occur.

In terms of safety problems for primary and middle school students, 69 percent of respondents expressed concerned about traffic safety to top the survey. It was followed by food safety at 46.2 percent, fights with other children at 26.3 percent, and getting lost at 25.2 percent.

“Making friends on the Internet” and “sexual assault” were also big concerns at 23 percent and 20.4 percent respectively.

The survey of 749 people was conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang of Liaoning Province, Chengdu of Sichuan Province, Wuhan of Hubei Province and Xi’an of Shaanxi Province.

Though always on the lookout for danger when accompanying her granddaughter, Wang admits that she was not vigilant at all with her own daughter 30 years ago.

She still remembers a long journey with her daughter, who was 3 years old at the time, on a train from Shandong to Shanghai in the 1970s. She recalls passenger offering to help take care of the little girl so Wang could sleep a little bit. She says it’s hard to believe she allowed a strange passenger to take her daughter to another carriage. Her daughter returned with pockets full of candies.

“I never suspected it could be dangerous and was always thankful to them,” says Wang. “But thinking about that trip now, I just wonder why we could trust strangers at that time. Something like that is unthinkable in today’s society, where mutual trust between strangers is almost non-existent.”

Six parents with children ranging from 3 to 9 years of age have told Shanghai Daily that they drop them off at school and pick them up every day. None of them allow their children to play outdoors without their supervision.

“It is such a dangerous world” is a common refrain as they speak about child safety.

“You never know what could happen to your children when you are not watching,” says 37-year-old Fei Xiaoping, a bank manager who works alone in Shanghai while his 7-year-old son and his wife live with his in-laws in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.

Fei recalls a frightening incident outside his son’s primary school in January. Another parent got out of the car to get something from the trunk when a man jumped into the vehicle and held a gun-shaped object to his child. The man told the parent to go to a nearby bank. The parent told bank security to call the police, and the man fled.

“Even with the parent around it still happened. How can children be safe without their parents?” Fei says.

The recent news of a 6-year-old girl being molested in Shanghai by a 46-year-old photographer during a photo shoot has driven the point home even further.

Jessie Gu, who loves taking her 3-year-old daughter to studios for professional photos, says, “I definitely will not allow my daughter out of my sight even for a second.”

Protecting children from pornography and predators on the Internet is another concern.

Just when Linda Chen considered it safe for her 14-year-old daughter to use the iPad at home, she was shocked by the picture of a penis on the screen when her daughter came for help in the game “Draw Something.”

She turned off the iPad and distracted her daughter. Yet it took her a long time to get over the scare.

While there is a reason to be concerned, experts say it’s not nearly as bad as parents think.

Shanghai University sociology professor Zhang Haidong says the number of safety issues has decreased continuously within the past 20 years due to the efforts of parents, schools and public security related organizations.

The impression of an increasingly dangerous society among many parents, to some extent, is exaggerated by high-profile cases they see in the media, says Ni Kejia, a moral education teacher who has given security lessons in a middle school.

“It is not that the number of bad guys has rocketed within the years, but that the number of cases being reported has increased,” Ni says.

Professor Zhang adds: “It is natural for the public to feel insecure when facing numerous safety issues including mass disturbances, food problems, fraud and even terrorist incidents.

“We may still face them for quite a long time during this rapid process of social transformation. Measures need to be taken to protect the most vulnerable members — children,” he adds.

However, they both agree that overprotecting children isn’t a wise way. They say teaching children to recognize danger and protect themselves is the better option.

“When parents cut their children off from assumed dangers, they are reducing the chance that they learn to be independent, recognize a dangerous situation and protect themselves,” Ni says. “As a mother, I can totally understand parents’ eagerness to protect their children, but as an educator, I want to tell them they cannot shelter children forever.”

Meanwhile, Shanghai has had safety education for children in primary and middle schools for years, but most of the courses are not very good, according to Ni.

“Nobody takes it seriously,” she says. “Many parents consider it useless compared with good marks in math, Chinese and English.”