22 children were wounded by a man wielding a knife at a primary school in China’s Henan province on Friday. The Associated Press quotes a police officer saying that the attack occurred as students were arriving for classes. The 36-year-old man was detained by authorities and is believed to be mentally ill. An elderly woman was also reported to have been injured in the attack.
The Los Angeles Times reported that pictures of the aftermath of the attacked showed family members carrying young children with bandages on their heads as they were transported to the hospital for medical care. Chenpeng Village’s Wanquan Elementary School, the scene of the attack, is located in a poor and mountainous municipality 600 miles south of Beijing. This attack marks one of China’s worst incidents in more than a year.
In 2010, China was hit by a series of copycat crimes — men targeting school children with knives in schools. The government introduced precautionary measures at that time by increasing security at schools across the country and requiring registration when buying large knives. Forum entries of the attacks were ordered to be removed from the Internet for fear of causing mass panic and future copycat crimes.
Xinhua, the Chinese state media, cites experts who claim that modern social stress brought on by China’s rapid social changes is the main cause for these crimes. Professor Joshua Miller, the chair of Smith College’s Social Welfare Policy and Services, said that school attacks are a way for stressed individuals to call for attention and help. China’s increasing social disparities have created social tensions long pushed to the margin by a rapidly transforming society.
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