WUXI: A former student went on a stabbing rampage at a college in eastern China, killing eight people and injuring 17, police said on Sunday, prompting soul-searching days after the deadliest attack in a decade.

The 21-year-old suspect was arrested at the scene and confessed, police said.

The attack took place at the Wuxi Vocational College of Arts and Technology in Yixing, a few days after a 62-year-old man rammed his car into a crowd outside a stadium, killing 35 people and injuring 43 in the city of Zhuhai.

In both cases, the suspects lashed out with fatal violence against unrelated bystanders after suffering an economic loss, according to the sparse details released by police.

The killings touched off a rare and heavily censored online discussion over mental health in China, deeper stresses as the world’s second-largest economy slows and whether young people will find themselves worse off than generations before them that benefited from China’s rapid development.

At least six other high-profile knife attacks have been recorded this year across China.

Police in Wuxi said the stabbing suspect was angry over not getting his graduation certificate, failing an exam and his pay.

The Zhuhai suspect was reportedly angry at the terms of a divorce settlement, police said.

Qu Weiguo, a Fudan University professor, said the recent cases of “indiscriminate revenge against society” in China had some common features: disadvantaged suspects, many with mental health issues, who believed that they had been treated unfairly and who felt they had no other way to be heard.

“It is important to establish a social safety net and a psychological counselling mechanism, but in order to minimise such cases, the most effective way is to open public channels that can monitor and expose the use of power,” Qu posted on social media platform Weibo.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2024