Thrown to the wolves: China's children at the mercy of foreign predators

Middle-school teacher Dave Straub had a shock when he caught a national TV news broadcast during a holiday in the misty Wudang mountains in Hubei province: a former colleague appeared on the screen.

American kindergarten teacher David McMahon had been arrested in Shanghai over allegations of child abuse in six cases, the news anchor said. A second, unnamed, foreign teacher was also mentioned in the report.

Straub, a native of Minnesota who has worked in China since 2001, said he was devastated. "You gotta be kidding me," he said. "Is this really the guy?"

"Usually when you read about child molesters, you say: 'I don't want to hear about this', but when you know a guy, it's: 'Oh my god, I can't believe it'."

But an even greater shock awaited Straub. As he began to research the case of McMahon, with whom he had previously worked in Shanghai, he discovered that child abuse by foreign teachers on the mainland might be a wider problem than he thought. This year alone, at least four foreign teachers have been arrested in connection with sex offences on minors.

Some cases of child abuse by foreign teachers seem to have been swept under the rug, with teachers or tutors only being fired without being reported to the police, leaving them free to move on to another school.

Awaiting a new school year in Hangzhou , where he now works, Straub spent hundreds of hours online trying to piece together the history of the unnamed second teacher. "I just became consumed with him," he said. "My wife is not too thrilled."