The risk does not simply refer to the description of the objective world. Rather, it is a socially constructed product.socially constructed product. Media representations of the risk have become the most obvious site where the social amplifcation of risk takes place. On the visual and representative level of risk communication, child image has become a key symbol to defne and elaborate the risk. From a perspective upon media’s “amplifcation”, this essay pays particular attention to the specifc effects that the child image has over the course of risk communication. To put it differently, this essay explores how the child image performs as a cultural eye on the risk, arouses the public emotional resonance, consolidates the field of public criticism and shapes collective memory. Moreover, a wide range of images of children have engaged with the construction of risk society through embodying the risk, holding the discourse power and indicating political standpoints and moral concerns. However, a number of problems still lie in mass media representations of children including the overuse of children as risk proxies, exploitations of children’s sentimental values, violations of journalism ethics and so forth. Focusing on the risk landscape in China, this essay suggests that the social amplifcation of risk that the child image has brought about has not been clearly recognized and paid enough attention to. Besides, a critical re?ection on the child image’s social function and the measurement of social amplifcation of risk should be necessary for any newsroom.