Photo: Collected
A stabbing spree at a vocational school in Wuxi, located in eastern China, on Saturday resulted in eight deaths and 17 injuries, according to local authorities.
The incident occurred at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in Yixing, a smaller city within Wuxi, around 6:30 p.m. local time, the Yixing police reported.
The suspect, 21-year-old Xu, a student at the school, was arrested at the scene.
Authorities revealed that Xu had failed his exams and was upset about not graduating, as well as being dissatisfied with his internship pay. They said he chose to express his frustrations through the violent attack.
Videos shared on Western platforms like X showed the aftermath, with victims lying on the street and bystanders trying to assist. Meanwhile, Chinese social media platforms, such as Weibo, show only the police statement, with no images or footage of the event. This is likely due to the Chinese government’s censorship of content deemed sensitive or political. Additionally, Western social media and search engines, like Google, are often inaccessible in China due to the country’s strict internet regulations, known as the Great Firewall.
This marks the second deadly attack in less than a week. Earlier, a man rammed his car into people at a sports facility in Zhuhai, in southern China, killing 35 and injuring 43.
Random public attacks have been a growing concern in China. In October, a man was arrested for stabbing children at a school in Beijing, injuring five. In September, three people died in a knife attack at a supermarket in Shanghai, and 15 others were injured. The suspect in the Shanghai attack had financial disputes and reportedly went to the city to “vent his anger.” That same month, a Japanese schoolboy was fatally stabbed while on his way to school in Shenzhen.
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