“勇者愤怒，抽刃向更强者；怯者愤怒，却抽刃向更弱者。”
鲁迅
When a hero is indignant, he draws his weapon on the bully. When a coward is indignant, he draws his weapon to become a bully.
Lu Xun (1881-1936)
A knife attack near a school in Beijing on 28 October 2024 injured five people, including three children, police said. The attack occurred at midafternoon in Beijing’s northwestern Haidian district. None of the injuries was life threatening, police said in a statement.
A 50-year-old suspect surnamed Tang was detained at the scene and is under investigation, it said.The location of the attack given by the statement is near a famous primary school. Video circulating on social media showed two school-aged children on the ground. Another image showed a man with blood on his face being held to the ground. Multiple knife attacks have occurred in China this year, including several involving school children.
Last month, a 10-year-old Japanese student died after being attacked with a knife near his school in the southern city of Shenzhen. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has called the attack “extremely despicable” and said Tokyo had “strongly urged” Beijing for an explanation “as soon as possible”. This incident followed another tragic event in Suzhou in June where a man targeted a Japanese mother and her child on a school bus parked outside a Japanese school. That attack led to the death of Chinese transport assistant Hu You Ping 胡友平 who had tried to stop the attacker from boarding the bus. Madam Hu suffered multiple stab wounds and died from her injuries before the attacker could be restrained.
Earlier in June, four American teachers were stabbed in the northern city of Jilin. Beijing has described all of these attacks as “isolated incidents”. Without giving details or taking specific action, the authorities pledged to protect the interests and safety of foreigners in China. Until there, there is still no trial, no reports on that attack.
A leak from an insider to the Japanese media revealed that the attack of the Japanese boy at Shenzhen was perpetrated by a man who had been desperately seeking jobs for a long time. His action was an act of revenge against society. He was hoping that an attack on “the enemy”on the anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria would get him some public sympathy and support. Until now, there is still no official statement from the Chinese authorities.
On 31 August 2024, a Chinese man attacked a baby boy with boiling hot coffee at a park near Brisbane, Australia. The baby suffred burns to his face and limbs. The attacker was identified 12 hours later, by which time he had fled to China. Australian police are working with their international counterparts to locate the man, but until now, China has not provided any information on his whereabouts.
In early October, three people were killed and 15 others were wounded in a knife attack in a Shanghai supermarket on the eve of the “golden week”. This time, the Chinese police released a statement purporting that the assailant is mentally ill.