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Today on State of the World, China experiences a rise in violent attacks.
You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Wednesday, November 20th. I'm Greg Dixon. China has had a string of deadly attacks from within the country in recent weeks, killing dozens and shocking the nation. The perpetrators are seemingly ordinary people who authorities say became disgruntled or unhappy.
As NPR's John Ruich tells us, these attacks are raising some difficult questions in China about social pressures and the limits of government control. The Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology is a tidy tree-lined campus where students pick up skills to use in local industry. It's quiet now, but last week the peace here was shattered.
According to police, a 21-year-old former student who had failed his exams and couldn't graduate went on a rampage. He stabbed eight people to death and injured 17 others. Classes have been shifted online, and students head home to process the horrible event. Many refuse to talk, saying they've been instructed by the school not to engage with media. No, no, no. No recording. No recording. No recording. No recording. No recording.
But one did, on the condition that we only identified him by his surname, Hu. Who says it was shocking and he's a little scared. There's a certain vibe at the moment, he says. A foul vibe. He says it needs to be rectified.
The school attack came just days after the most deadly incident like this in years. A 62-year-old man drove a car through a crowd of people exercising in the southern city of Zhuhai. 35 people were killed and more than 40 injured. Police said the man was unhappy with his divorce settlement.
Last month, there was a knife attack at a school in Beijing. The month before that, three people were stabbed to death in a supermarket in Shanghai. By one count, there have been at least 19 mass casualty events in China this year. These tragic events have clear patterns. Sun Peidong is an associate professor at Cornell University. She says inequality, social injustice and moral decline are behind the trend. But what's triggering it is
I think China's rapid modernization and urbanization have left many people feeling excluded and increasingly frustrated. To be sure, indiscriminate attacks like this are not new in China. But the recent rash of incidents has sparked outcry. Sun says increasingly strict government controls over speech and limited channels for people to air their grievances have made the problem worse.
Back at the school gate, the government's instinct to assert maximum control is on full display. Uniformed and plainclothes police are everywhere. At one point, they grab a man and violently shove him into a bus. It's not clear why. The man yells for help at a bus window, and then it drives away.
Moments later, a distraught woman approaches the gate, and she's quickly bundled away by police. She can be heard wailing, telling them she's the mother of one of the victims. Even flowers are a problem. A tearful man who says he's done contract work at the school places eight bouquets by the gate, but they're removed by officials, one after the other, as soon as he puts them down. How old are you?
The victims were so young, he says, whatever was behind this attack must be addressed.
Wilson Zhang is a former journalist who now has a large following online for his social commentaries. He thinks the country is in a vicious spiral. He suspects the spate of attacks is linked to the pandemic. The government imposed what he says were inhumane restrictions.
And people survived, in part, by believing that things would get better. But he says they haven't. The economy's in the dumps, there's a sense of despair, and the government's efforts to keep a lid on it all are only making things worse. John Rewich, NPR News, Yixing, China. That's the state of the world from NPR. Thanks for listening.
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