- author, Kelly Ng
- Role, BBC News
A car attack in China that killed 35 people has raised questions about recent public violence as authorities continue to censor discussion of the incident.
On social media, many are discussing the social phenomenon of “revenge on society,” where individuals act out personal grievances by attacking strangers.
Police said the driver who plowed into a crowd at a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai on Monday night acted out of dissatisfaction with a divorce settlement.
Although it is believed to be China’s deadliest known act of violence in decades, it follows a series of attacks in recent months, including a stabbing at a Shanghai supermarket and a knife attack at a Beijing school.
Amid the national uproar over the Zhuhai incident, President Xi Jinping has vowed “severe punishment” for the perpetrator. According to the police, the arrested 62-year-old driver is in a coma due to self-inflicted injuries.
On Chinese social media platforms, many expressed shock at his actions and asked if it was a symptom of deeper societal problems.
One comment that went viral on Weibo read: “How can you take revenge on society because your family life is not going well? You have taken the lives of so many innocent people, will you ever have peace of mind.”
“If there is a widespread lack of job security and enormous pressure to survive… then society is bound to be full of problems, hostility and terror,” the user said on WeChat.
Another person wrote in a widely shared post: “We should examine the deep-seated, social (factors) that have fueled so many indiscriminate (attacks) on the weak.”
There have been several reports of violent attacks in China this year, including a mass stabbing and gun attack in Shandong in February that killed at least 21 people.
In October, a knife attack at a top school in Beijing injured five people, while in September, a man went on a stabbing rampage in a Shanghai supermarket, killing three people and injuring several others.
Many messages, comments and articles about the Zhuhai incident have been censored in recent days as authorities clamp down on discussion of what has been considered a politically sensitive topic. In China, it is common for censors to quickly delete social media posts related to high-profile criminal cases.
Despite this, several emotional accounts raising questions about the event have circulated widely online. The BBC has not been able to independently confirm these accounts.
One person said a family friend was killed in the attack while doing an evening workout with a walking group.
“It’s hard for my mother to accept the loss of such a close friend. The more I see her grief, the more I hate the cold-bloodedness of the murderer,” the person wrote.
They also accused the Chinese media of “barely reporting” the incident, while giving more coverage to a high-profile military air show that took place in Zhuhai at the same time.
“For those in power, airplanes are more important than human lives.”
Several Chinese media outlets have told BBC Chinese that in the first hours after the incident, they had been given clear instructions not to report on it.
The news has since reported the attack, mostly based on statements from the police and Xi Jinping.
However, state broadcaster CCTV did not mention the attack in a midday bulletin on Wednesday, instead focusing on President Xi’s upcoming trip to South America and the Zhuhai air show.
There was also no mention of the deadliest mass violence in years on the main pages of China’s dailies.
Another post that went viral online was written by a person who said their mother was seriously injured in the attack and was currently being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
The person said it was unclear if their mother would survive and that their father, who witnessed the attack, was devastated. – His heart is broken, but he still tries his best to calmly answer the phone calls and all the people who care about my mother.
They also criticized the lack of information in the hours after the event.
“For up to 10 hours after it happened, there were no casualty statistics and no police statements,” they said.
Other users have mentioned how it took 24 hours for authorities to release the death toll of 35. The Weibo social media platform has also censored a hashtag mentioning the death toll.
Additional reporting by Fan Wang.