In a horrifying scene outside a primary school in the central Chinese city of Jinhua on April 22, a driver deliberately crashed his car into the crowd as parents collected their children at the end of the day. Censors acted quickly to delete images of the carnage as they began to circulate on social media.
Police at local stations declined to speak with journalists about the tragedy, which reportedly resulted in at least 14 deaths, including nine students. Authorities have still not confirmed the incident or released any information about it.
The sustained official silence came in sharp contrast to a similar incident in the southern city of Zhuhai on November 11 of last year, when a man drove his car onto an exercise track at a sports center, killing 38 and injuring dozens more.
This was the most serious of a series of high-profile mass casualty incidents over the past year that sparked widespread unease. Labeled “taking revenge on society” attacks, many were carried out by people struggling with financial or family problems. The assailant in Zhuhai had reportedly been angry about his divorce.
In the immediate aftermath, social media posts about the incident were quickly taken down, but the news spread rapidly, prompting an outbreak of public grief. Local officials removed flowers and tributes to the victims left at the crime scene, which only made citizens angrier.
China’s leaders were compelled to respond. An official police statement was released the following day, and over the next week authorities publicly called for more to be done to prevent future violence. Top leader Xi Jinping personally urged officials nationwide to step up efforts to prevent attacks. China’s Ministry of Public Security convened an emergency meeting of top officials and issued a statement on November 13 vowing to tighten control of society and increase patrols in places of public assembly.
Over the following month, official media publicized events where local public security organs pledged to be more proactive in stopping lone wolf attacks by identifying individuals who show signs of severe financial stress or behavioral problems, and keeping close tabs on people on the margins of society whom they view as a potential threat. Concerned citizens were asked to report cases where family, marital, or neighborhood disputes could potentially escalate into violence.
Throughout the first decades of the reform era that began in 1978, China’s leaders could point to rising standards of living as evidence that life was getting better. But by 2017 it had become obvious that the pace of growth was slowing, and since the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October of that year, the official party line has been that “the well-being of the people is the fundamental goal of development.” China’s economic policies began to place greater emphasis on eliminating poverty and making development more balanced and sustainable.
Making people’s lives better is a now high policy priority, and all levels of government now focus more on quality of life issues. Examples include the massive public expenditures on beautification projects and other public works that have made Chinese cities look more modern and attractive. Expanding the national network of highways and high-speed rail lines has made travel faster and more convenient. Air pollution has eased in many urban areas. All of these contribute to citizens’ contentment and sense of national pride.
However, building infrastructure is a lot easier than managing the social pressures building on China’s increasingly unsettled population. A major worry for China’s leaders is how to keep society stable as more people struggle to manage the stress of daily life.
Financial pressures have intensified as the economy falters and labor market difficulties mount. Young people face intense academic pressure, only to find limited or unsatisfying employment opportunities when they leave school. China has reported an alarming rise in youth suicides.
These factors have contributed to rising demand for psychological counseling and China has experienced a “psycho-boom” over the past decade. Even before the pandemic, more people were turning to online platforms for therapy. The number using online mental health services grew more than seven-fold from 2018 to 2020, with most of the increase coming in 2018 and 2019.
Concerns about the extent of China’s mental health crisis have been heightened by the recent “revenge on society” attacks. The government is now doing more to promote awareness of mental health and is taking steps to make psychological counseling and self-help resources more widely available. In an announcement released three days after the reported car attack in Jinhua, China’s National Health Commission decreed that mental health screening would be required as part of routine medical care.
China’s leaders pledged last November to do everything possible to crack down on the violence, and every new mass casualty attack is a reminder that they have not been able to stop the carnage. The cover up of the Jinhua school tragedy is a sign that Beijing is not only worried about the well-being of society, it is also worried about its own.