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What is causing individuals to commit mass murders of strangers? This is a question that many in China are grappling with
“The Chinese people are feeling so unhappy,” stated a social media post following yet another mass killing earlier this year in the country. The same user also expressed concern: “There will only be more and more copycat attacks.”
“This tragedy highlights the darkness present in our society,” wrote another.
These grim assessments, in the wake of a series of deadly incidents in China in 2024, have raised questions about what is motivating people to commit mass murders of strangers as a form of “revenge on society”.
Although attacks like these are still uncommon given China’s large population, they are not new, according to David Schak, an associate professor at Griffith University in Australia. However, they appear to occur in waves, often as imitative acts seeking attention.
This year has been particularly distressing.
From 2019 to 2023, authorities documented three to five cases each year where individuals attacked pedestrians or strangers. In 2024, that number rose to 19.
In 2019, three people were killed and 28 injured in such incidents; in 2023, 16 were killed and 40 injured; and in 2024, 63 people were killed and 166 injured. November was particularly deadly.
On the 11th of that month, a 62-year-old man drove a car into people exercising outside a stadium in Zhuhai, resulting in at least 35 deaths. Police stated that the driver was dissatisfied with his divorce settlement and was subsequently sentenced to death.
Days later, in Changde city, a man drove into a crowd of children and parents outside a primary school, injuring 30. Authorities revealed that he was upset over financial losses and family issues.
During the same week, a 21-year-old student who failed his exams and couldn’t graduate went on a stabbing spree on his campus in Wuxi city, resulting in eight deaths and 17 injuries.
In September, a 37-year-old man went on a stabbing spree in a Shanghai shopping center. In June, four American instructors were attacked in a park by a 55-year-old man wielding a knife. Additionally, there were two separate attacks on Japanese citizens, including one where a 10-year-old boy was stabbed to death outside his school.
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Floral tributes outside a college in Wuxi, where a student killed people in a mass stabbing
The perpetrators primarily targeted “random people” to express their “displeasure with society,” as noted by Prof Schak.
In a country with extensive surveillance capabilities, where women rarely hesitate to walk alone at night, these killings have sparked understandable anxiety.
So, what has led to the rise in mass attacks in China this year?
China’s economic slowdown
One significant source of pressure in China currently is the sluggish economy. It is widely known that the country is grappling with high youth unemployment, significant debt, and a real estate crisis that has depleted the savings of many families, often leaving them with nothing.
In the outskirts of major cities, there are entire housing developments where construction has halted due to financially strapped developers unable to complete them. In 2022, the BBC interviewed individuals living in the unfinished concrete structures of their own apartments, lacking basic amenities, as they had nowhere else to go.
“Optimism has noticeably waned,” remarks George Magnus, a research associate at Oxford University’s China Centre. “Let’s say trapped, for the moment. I think China has become trapped in a cycle of repression. Social and economic repression on one side, and a struggling economic development model on the other.”
Studies suggest a significant shift in attitudes, with a rise in pessimism among Chinese individuals about their personal prospects. A notable US-China joint study, which previously indicated that societal inequality was often due to lack of effort or ability, now reveals that people are attributing it to an “unfair economic system”.
“The question is, who are people really blaming?” Mr Magnus questions. “And the next step from that is that the system is unfair to me, and I can’t break through. I can’t change my circumstances.”
Limited options
In countries with a free press, if you felt unfairly dismissed from your job or your home was demolished by corrupt developers with support from local officials, you might seek out journalists to share your story. However, this is rarely an option in China, where the media is controlled by the Communist Party and unlikely to report negatively on any government level.
Furthermore, the courts, also under party control, are slow and ineffective. The alleged motive of the Zhuhai attacker, that he did not receive a fair divorce settlement in court, sparked significant discussion on social media.
BBC/Xiqing Wang
A bustling job market in Guangzhou city: Youth unemployment poses a major economic challenge in China
Experts indicate that other avenues for expressing frustration have dwindled or been shut down completely.
According to Lynette Ong, a political science professor at the University of Toronto who has conducted extensive research on how the Chinese state responds to dissent, Chinese individuals often voice their grievances online.
“[They] may go online and criticize the government… to release their anger. Or they may organize a small protest, which the police often tolerate if it remains small-scale,” she explains. Las imágenes de Getty “Pero este tipo de disidencia, pequeña disidencia, ha sido cerrada en los últimos años”. Hay muchos ejemplos de esto: Mayor censura en internet, que bloquea palabras o expresiones que se consideran controvertidas o críticas; represiones a disfraces traviesos de Halloween que se burlan de la oficialidad; o cuando hombres de paisano, que parecían haber sido movilizados por funcionarios locales, golpearon a manifestantes en la provincia de Henan frente a bancos que habían congelado sus cuentas. En cuanto a cómo manejar las respuestas mentales y emocionales de las personas a estas tensiones, también se ha encontrado deficiente. Los especialistas dicen que los servicios de asesoramiento de China son vastamente inadecuados, dejando sin salida a aquellos que se sienten aislados, solos y deprimidos en la sociedad china moderna. “El asesoramiento puede ayudar a construir resiliencia emocional”, dice la profesora Silvia Kwok de la Universidad de la Ciudad de Hong Kong, añadiendo que China necesita aumentar sus servicios de salud mental, especialmente para grupos en riesgo que han experimentado trauma o aquellos con enfermedades mentales. “Las personas necesitan encontrar estrategias diferentes o formas constructivas de lidiar con sus emociones… haciéndolas menos propensas a reaccionar violentamente en momentos de estrés emocional intenso”. En conjunto, estos factores sugieren que la tapa se está apretando en la sociedad china, creando una situación similar a una olla a presión. “No hay mucha gente yendo por ahí matando en masa. Pero aún así, las tensiones parecen estar aumentando, y no parece que vaya a calmarse en el futuro cercano”, dice el Sr. Magnus. La policía vigila cualquier signo de protesta o disfraces críticos del gobierno en la víspera de Halloween en Shanghai. Lo que debería preocupar al Partido Comunista es el comentario del público en general culpando a los que están en el poder por esto. Toma este comentario, por ejemplo: “Si el gobierno actuara verdaderamente de manera justa y equitativa, no habría tanta ira y resentimiento en la sociedad china… los esfuerzos del gobierno se han centrado en crear una sensación superficial de armonía. Aunque puede parecer que les importan las personas desfavorecidas, sus acciones han causado las mayores injusticias”. Aunque los ataques violentos han estado aumentando en muchos países, según el Profesor Ong, la diferencia en China es que los funcionarios han tenido poca experiencia lidiando con ellos. “Creo que las autoridades están muy alarmadas porque no lo han visto antes, y su instinto es reprimir”. Cuando el líder de China, Xi Jinping, habló sobre el ataque de Zhuhai, pareció reconocer que la presión estaba aumentando en la sociedad. Instó a los funcionarios de todo el país a “aprender lecciones duras del incidente, abordar los riesgos en sus raíces, resolver conflictos y disputas temprano y tomar medidas proactivas para prevenir el crimen extremo”. Pero, hasta ahora, las lecciones aprendidas parecen haber llevado a una mayor presión para tiempos de respuesta más rápidos de la policía utilizando una mayor vigilancia, en lugar de considerar algún cambio en la forma en que se dirige China. “China está entrando en una nueva fase, una nueva fase que no hemos visto desde finales de los 70”, dice el Profesor Ong, refiriéndose al momento en que el país comenzó a abrirse nuevamente al mundo, desencadenando enormes cambios. “Necesitamos prepararnos para eventos inesperados, como muchos ataques aleatorios y brotes de protesta e inestabilidad social que surjan”.