Another school attack. In China.

[bedlamite]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/world/asia/13china.html?ref=asia

BEIJING — Gates and cameras have been installed at schools. Security guards have been trained to fend off knife-wielding attackers. China’s top security official convened a nationwide conference call, ordering underlings to protect children when they attend classes.

But on Wednesday, the latest in a streak of copycat assaults was also the most deadly: a landlord with a kitchen cleaver barged into a kindergarten in central China, hacked to death seven children, their teacher and her mother and returned home while rescuers rushed to the scene before taking his own life.

What prompted the attack — the fifth assault on schoolchildren since March — was as imponderable to many Chinese as the details were gruesome. They have all involved middle-aged men in small towns expressing violent grievances against the most vulnerable and cherished members of their communities, the children of families often limited to having only one.

But whether the problem is weak diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, lackluster security and little money for schools, too much media attention to spectacular crimes or too little public debate about social inequality, the killings have presented an unusual political and security challenge to the ruling Communist Party. And in the frenzied speculation about why people might want to mimic horrific attacks on children at schools, causing problems for the powerful is believed to be one possible motive.

“They choose children because it’ll have the largest negative impact on society,” said Tang Jun, a sociologist in Beijing. He said the attackers did not appear to know their victims personally, so the assaults “must be an expression of their dissatisfaction with society.”

The senseless suffering of children has become something of an Achilles’ heel for President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. They have presided over an extraordinary economic expansion and a rapid rise in China’s global influence. But they have not been able to keep tainted infant formula off grocery store shelves or to account for why so many public school buildings collapsed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, killing more than 5,000 children.

Since the first in the recent spate of atrocities took place on March 23, when a man stabbed eight children to death outside an elementary school in southeastern China, the authorities have ordered the police and paramilitary troops to patrol schools. They also ordered news outlets to use only the official, terse accounts of the killings provided by the Xinhua news agency, and have kept the news off broadcast television almost entirely.

But some commentators argue that the underlying tensions in Chinese society may not be addressed by security measures and censorship.

On Wednesday, Dahe Bao, a newspaper in Henan Province, posted on the Internet a fiery editorial that pointed to misbehavior by government officials as the root cause of the problem.

“After being treated unfairly or being bullied by the authorities, and unable to take revenge on those government departments that are safeguarded by state security forces, killers have to let out their hatred and anger on weaker people,” said the editorial by a writer named Shi Chuan.

The newspaper took another bold step by criticizing government efforts to censor news of the attacks. “Any effort that attempts to maintain social stability by silencing public media is outrageously wrong,” the editorial said. “It is undeniable that the media’s coverage on these incidents of bloodshed may ‘inspire’ potential killers, but it will educate more people by raising awareness of self-protection and spur the authorities.”

It was not clear if administrators had stepped up security at Shengshui Temple Kindergarten in Hanzhong, a private school not far from the city of Xi’an. By Chinese standards it is a tiny school, with only 20 students.

According to the local government’s account, Wu Huanming, 48, stormed into the school just after 8:20 a.m. He used a cleaver to slash the school’s administrator and teacher, Wu Hongying, 50, and a student standing by her side, killing them both. He then hacked at 18 pupils.

Something ain't right over there. 5 attacks since March? I wonder if there were more before that weren't reported or if something changed to cause this.

[Monkeyleg]

“They choose children because it’ll have the largest negative impact on society,” said Tang Jun, a sociologist in Beijing. He said the attackers did not appear to know their victims personally, so the assaults “must be an expression of their dissatisfaction with society.”

Well, I guess sociologists are just as clueless on the other side of the world as they are here. Why can't they just say "these people are evil" instead of turning into a discussion of society?

[KD5NRH]

Something ain't right over there. 5 attacks since March? I wonder if there were more before that weren't reported or if something changed to cause this.

Given the typical censorship of Chinese media, the one thing we can be sure of is that if this leaked out, there's a lot more that didn't.

[KD5NRH]

Well, I guess sociologists are just as clueless on the other side of the world as they are here. Why can't they just say "these people are evil" instead of turning into a discussion of society?

As my psych prof put it, there's not much point in coming up with fancy names for any kind of crazy you can't fix.

IIRC, sociology majors were in his "can't be fixed" category.

[Bogie]

Every so often, the stuffed kitten in the corner starts talking. The problem happens when someone will start listening.
 

[MicroBalrog]

Something ain't right over there. 5 attacks since March? I wonder if there were more before that weren't reported or if something changed to cause this.

There's a billion Chinese.

[Tallpine]

They have all involved middle-aged men in small towns expressing violent grievances

They have a Tea Party in China 

 

[AJ Dual]

IMO, our constitutional issues aside, I do think the Chinese government is ahead of the curve in at least wondering about the media's role in these spree killings at schools.

I won't say the censorship is a good idea, but I can't imagine that the hand-wringing and media attention these cases garner does not play into the minds of the next person who's considering it.

[Mabs2]

IMO, our constitutional issues aside, I do think the Chinese government is ahead of the curve in at least wondering about the media's role in these spree killings at schools.

I won't say the censorship is a good idea, but I can't imagine that the hand-wringing and media attention these cases garner does not play into the minds of the next person who's considering it.

Absolutely.
It's similar to how virus makers think.  They'll never be able to see anyone's reactions but they still do it because it'll cause people misery.
The attackers plan on dying in the attack but they know the media will be talking about them for many years.

[KD5NRH]

There's a billion Chinese.

I think I see the problem.