I just read a report of yet another kindergarten attack in China, this one in Weifang, Shandong. In today's attack, no one was killed except the attacker, who committed suicide by setting himself on fire at the scene after hitting five children with an iron hammer.
What a tragedy for these kids. What a tragedy for their parents and teachers. What a tragedy for China that this has happened three times in a single week.
I'm shocked that anyone would go stab classroom of grade schoolers, much less thrice in a month. The government blamed "frustration at romantic failures" for the first incident... If that is the case, there will be a lot more classroom stabbings when the effects of the 1-child policy fully materialize and there are 30 million men who can't find wives.
ReplyDeleteIt is shocking that anyone would even think about knifing a bunch of 5-year-olds, for whatever reason. The coverage I've read of these attacks doesn't shed a lot of insight into the motives.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the one-child policy goes, there is definitely a serious gender imbalance in China. But some people might not know that the policy has lots of loopholes -- at least half of my students have siblings, even though all were born after the institution of the one-child policy.