Commentary: Deadly attacks shatter China’s aspiration to be a ‘harmonious society’

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SINGAPORE: In 2019, Taiwanese drama series The World Between Us won rave reviews for its thought-provoking portrayal of a mass killing case and its repercussions.

Through the shifting perspectives of individuals and families impacted by the tragedy, the show dissects complex issues such as mental health stigma, media ethics and controversies over the death penalty.

On Chinese online platform Douban, a netizen offers a sharp critique of society’s approach toward the killer and the incident in the acclaimed drama: “The public cuts the weeds, the government uproots them, the media pours water, yet only Wang She (the lawyer of the killer) examines the soil.”

The pithy analogy highlights society’s tendencies – condemnation, execution, sensationalism – and contrasts them with the defence attorney’s attempt to burrow into the underlying causes of the tragedy.

How may this metaphor shed light on the recent spate of “revenge on society” attacks in China?

RECENT FREQUENCY OF VIOLENT ATTACKS

Over a short span of nine days, China saw three instances of mass violence: On Nov 11, a man drove into a crowd in Zhuhai, killing 35 and injuring 43; on Nov 17, eight people were killed and 17 others wounded in a knife attack at a Jiangsu vocational school; on Nov 19, a car crashed outside a primary school in Hunan, injuring several students.

These incidents followed another knife attack in late October near a school in Beijing that injured five people, including three children.

Spates of “revenge on society” attacks by vehicle ramming, stabbing, arson and even planted explosives are not unheard of in China. Based on a compilation of similar incidents in a Chinese journal, a wave of four such attacks took place in Ningxia, Jiangxi, Henan and Hainan from January to February 2016.

Neither is the Nov 11 Zhuhai rampage unprecedented in terms of the toll of the dead and wounded. In June 2009, for instance, a public bus arson in Chengdu led to 28 fatalities and 74 injured.

What is striking about the recent wave of incidents is perhaps the conflation of a high number of casualties and the frequency of attacks.

An online report shows a surge in the occurrence of violent attacks with multiple casualties in China this year compared to the past six years. There have been 17 attacks so far in 2024, double the number in 2023.

GROWING FRUSTRATION WITH ECONOMIC HARDSHIP

Amid China’s sluggish post-pandemic economy, many have attributed these incidents to society’s growing anger and frustration with economic hardship.

Over the last few years, declining job opportunities in manufacturing and construction have pushed more workers in urban China into labour-intensive informal employment, where the growth in real wages has lagged behind that of the formal economy and gross domestic product.

Since the pandemic, incomes have also fallen in rural China, where many workers lack unemployment insurance. China’s youth unemployment stood at 17.6 per cent this September after hitting a record high of 21.3 per cent in June 2023.

Seen in totality, these economic challenges could cause disillusionment among the affected population, introducing fragility in China’s social system.

To make things worse, income inequality has remained consistently high over time in China.

Elsewhere, studies on gun violence in the United States have shown income inequality to be a key predictor. This is supported by relative deprivation theory, which suggests that the perceived gap between one’s actual conditions and expectations can evoke feelings of deprivation. Such feelings are accentuated when comparing oneself to others.

While many are quick to say that aggression emanates from mental disorder, there is limited evidence that mental illness is a key cause of gun violence. Mentally ill patients were significantly more likely to report self-harm instead.

SCANT HOPE FOR SOCIETY TO LEARN FROM TRAGEDY

Just as research suggests that gun violence is often caused by a complex interplay of biological, social, demographic and psychological factors, no single factor can explain the recent spate of deadly attacks in China.

The problem is that today’s China lacks the political will to tackle underlying issues as well as the public space to reflect on the context behind such mass attacks.

Following the Nov 11 Zhuhai car-ramming attack, local governments have received orders to closely monitor the marginalised and disadvantaged “si wu wu shi” population – those who have no spouse, no children, no job or stable income and no assets, and who have experienced investment failure, frustration in life, discord in relationships, psychological imbalance and mental abnormality.

Unlike the Taiwan media landscape depicted in The World Between Us, tight controls on press freedom in China rule out any room for sensationalism.

While media prudence is essential to minimise copycat or contagion effects after mass attacks, the information vacuum also means that what actually transpired is open to rumours and speculation.

Till date, for example, Chinese media had yet to report on the number of casualties in the Hunan car crash outside a primary school. The suspect’s motives, which some claimed to be an outraged father’s misplaced move to seek redress for his bullied child, are anybody’s guess.

Thoughtful discussions of the causes of the recent mass attacks have been swiftly scrubbed from the internet, thanks to China’s strict online censorship. The quick passage to execution of convicted criminals of mass violence ends further probes.

But many questions and puzzles remain: What could have driven the perpetrators to such desperation and violence? Why and how have prior channels and measures to intervene failed? Is post-pandemic China facing a mental well-being crisis? How may both state and society better support the mentally ill and the needy?

As long as Chinese authorities stick to the usual playbook of erasing incidents from public spaces, there is scant hope for society to meaningfully learn from these incidents before the next tragedy strikes. China’s aspiration for a “harmonious society” shall only be an easily shattered facade.

Dr Yew Chiew Ping is Head of Political Science at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.