As 2024 drew to a close, CDT editors compiled a series of the most notable content (Chinese) from across the Chinese internet over the past year. Topics include this year’s most outstanding quotes, reports, podcasts and videos, sensitive words, censored articles and essays, “People of the Year,” and CDT’s “2024 Editors’ Picks.”
CDT’s People of the Year for 2024, chosen by our Chinese editors, were the victims of the at least 25 indiscriminate attacks across the country during the course of the year. The Chinese team’s post on the selection outlined the toll of these incidents—at least 86 dead and 181 injured, though in at least four cases no figures were released; the apparent motives behind them; the profound shock and disquiet they have caused among China’s online public; and the pervasive censorship and opacity that has surrounded them. (All translations below not otherwise attributed are drawn from this post on CDT Chinese.)
Some incidents have received widespread notice abroad, such as the attack on a Japanese school bus in Suzhou in which bus attendant Hu Youping was killed while trying to protect children; the fatal stabbing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy on his way to school in Shenzhen; a knife attack against four foreign teachers—three American and one Indian—in a Jilin park; and a car ramming attack against people exercising on a track outside a Zhuhai stadium, in which 35 people were killed and 43 injured. Many others, though, went relatively unnoticed outside China. Most of the attacks were committed either with knives, or using vehicles as weapons. What all have in common is that their victims appear to have been targeted purely at random or as members of groups such as Japanese people or schoolchildren, rather than as individuals.
Commentary on these attacks has tended to ascribe them to one or both of two primary motives: frustration with the "pressure cooker" of life in today’s China, with immediate triggers such as failure to find or keep a job, disgruntlement with an unfavorable divorce settlement, unpaid wages, or social isolation; and the virulent xenophobia which the authorities often try to cultivate or harness for their own ends. Each of these has been linked to historical parallels. Incidents of violent "revenge against society" are widely referred to as "Xianzhong attacks," referring to a Ming-era rebel with a legendarily bloody reputation who, according to Lu Xun, "felt keenly that there was nothing left for him on this earth except to destroy what remained for others." Violence against foreigners is widely linked to the Boxer Rebellion of the turn of the 20th century—or to the more recent beating of Chinese citizen Li Jianli with a bicycle U-lock during anti-Japanese riots in Xi’an in 2012. Li, who was targeted for driving a Japanese car, was left paralyzed and largely unable to speak.
"Our current society is like a pressure cooker on the verge of exploding," wrote one commenter cited by CDT Chinese editors. Elsewhere, Xiang Dongliang elaborated on his WeChat public account “Constructive Criticism”:
The current state of society is like having ten teapots with only eight lids. However you shuffle them around, there will always be two pots left uncovered. If you use one of those to make tea, it’s inevitable that sometimes the hot water will spill out and scald your hands. It’s crucial that we first acknowledge that the two pots are lidless, and then work together to make up the deficit. Then we must earnestly reflect on how the lids were lost or broken to avoid it happening again, rather than closing our eyes and blaming others for sabotaging them.
Closed eyes have been a defining characteristic of official responses to many of these incidents, however. Censorship has been rife, with the above post among those deleted. In at least three cases, CDT Chinese editors found, there was no official announcement of the incident, a fact with profound implications when "the practice of waiting for the official announcement [before reporting] has become ubiquitous: it would be fair to describe it as the norm, with very few exceptions." In other instances, official announcements have lacked key information such as casualty numbers. Potentially emotive details such as the targeting of children were often omitted, while cases were insistently described as “isolated incidents.” Almost without exception, authorities offered no follow-up information, and no media coverage beyond initial reports, if that. Foreign and domestic reporters encountered active or passive obstruction while attempting to cover the incidents.
After the attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, for example, three weeks after Hu Youping’s death, journalist Peng Yuanwen wrote:
We already know so much about someone who attempted to kill the former president (and now candidate for president) of the United States, just one day after it happened. The more I learn about it, the more uncomfortable it makes me to think of Hu Youping, and I feel that I must say a few words.
It’s been 22 days since June 24 and we still don’t know the name of Hu’s murderer. Why is that?
To those who claim that it’s “sensitive” information, it’s hard to believe that there is anything more sensitive than the near-assassination of Trump. The Americans published that, so why can’t we publish the name of Hu’s killer?
To those who claim that “investigations take time,” the Americans were able to publish basic information [about the Trump shooting] on the day it happened, and far more information the following day. What are our investigators still unclear about, 22 days after Hu’s death? [Source]
Peng’s post was deleted. Two months later, as news broke of the Shenzhen Japanese School student’s stabbing, WeChat blogger “Haoxuan Insights” lamented that "almost three months after Ms. Hu’s death, we still have no concrete information about her killer. We don’t know whether the killer followed influencers who like to stir up anti-Japanese hatred, or whether he enjoyed shoddy, hate-filled anti-Japanese devil-ripping shows [a reference to violent patriotic historical dramas.] Before Ms. Hu Youping’s murderer has even been publicly identified, another, similar incident has taken place."
A major exception to the general blanket of quiet followed the November 11 Zhuhai attack in which 35 people were killed. While this incident did receive the usual pall of censorship, it also drew a public statement from Xi Jinping calling for treatment of the injured, severe punishment of the attacker (who was later sentenced to death, on December 27), and for "all localities and relevant authorities to draw lessons from the case, and to strengthen their prevention and control of risks at the source … preventing the occurrence of extreme cases." This has prompted anxiety at the prospect of sweeping and aggressive pre-emptive actions against the broad swathes of society who might display supposed risk factors. The WeChat account “Common Sense Distribution Center” wrote, in yet another deleted post, about reported targeting of people with "the four lacks and five frustrations":
The “four lacks” refer to people who lack a spouse or children; a job or stable income; normal social interactions; and financial assets such as a house or car. The “five frustrations” (or “five losses”) refer to frustrations over failed investments, estranged relationships, feelings of being thwarted in one’s daily life, loss of emotional equilibrium, and suffering from mental illness.
[…] It’s certainly possible that individuals grappling with the so-called "four lacks and five frustrations" might pose a threat to society, and certain circumstances might increase the likelihood of them going to extremes. However, since our individual circumstances and even our individual identities are so fluid, and the population base is so vast, trying to screen and identify those with "four lacks and five frustrations" is a nearly impossible task. [Source]
Given the number of attacks against foreigners, particularly Japanese, much online commentary highlighted the Chinese government’s own role in exploiting historical grievances or current suspicions. WeChat public account “Linge Jinglüe” asked after the stabbing of foreign teachers in Jilin:
What if this wasn’t just an isolated, random incident, but rather was incited by a long-term climate of fear and hatred? Beatings of people wearing kimonos, threats on Weibo to blow up the German embassy, false allegations that illustrations of the sun are references to the Japanese imperial flag, the harassment of readers of foreign poetry as “slaves to all things western” … there has been too much condoning of incidents like these.
WeChat account “Shenzhenke” noted that the attack on the schoolboy in Shenzhen coincided with official commemorations of the Mukden incident which precipitated the Japanese invasion of Manchuria:
On September 18, the blare of air-raid sirens in Shenzhen were a reminder of the history of that date. But for some black-hearted thugs, this cry may have stirred up extreme malice. It’s terrifying to think of the extreme emotions that could make one choose this day to attack a Japanese child on their way to school.
WeChat account “Legal Roundtable” pointed out the prevalence of anti-Japanese content online, a tacit green light from companies and authorities all too willing to suppress content they disapprove of:
Where does this insane anti-Japanese online sentiment come from? It surely didn’t just appear in the last day or so. Because no matter how obscene and despicable such online behavior—even behavior that might be considered illegal or criminal—as long as it appears under the banner of anti-Japanese ‘patriotism,’ there will always be those in the comment section who wave flags and cheer it on. [Source]
WeChat account "Chanting a Spell Will Make It Rain" noted that, unlike much of the content on the attacks, xenophobic Kuaishou videos targeting Japanese schools appeared to have gone uncensored. The post was soon censored itself. Although some major Chinese tech platforms announced efforts to counter xenophobic online content after Hu Youping’s murder, any such moves seem too little, too late.
The CDT Chinese "People of the Year" post highlights some of the online tributes to the victims of these attacks, such as recollections of walking-team members killed on the track in Zhuhai. Some tributes were left on the Wailing Wall beneath COVID whistleblower Li Wenliang’s last Weibo post:
Amyhongwei: Hello, Dr. Li. Has anyone told you yet about Ms. Hu Youping’s brave deeds? She has gone to your world now. Like you, she is an outstanding “ordinary” person. Will you have the chance to meet her? With nothing more than her ordinary flesh and blood, she has touched the hearts of countless people. Kind people were moved to shed tears of compassion for her, just like we did for you, the night you left us.
盛装老去: Good morning, Dr. Li! Ms. Hu Youping from Suzhou sacrificed her life to protect some children. You and she are proof that there’s still some vestige of kindness and compassion in our society. [Source]
CDT Chinese editors also highlighted a purported letter from the Shenzhen victim’s father, which was translated at Pekingnology by Zichen Wang:
[…] K loved insects and reptiles and had a unique talent for spotting even the tiniest creatures. He had a heart more gentle than anyone else’s. From a young age, he loved drawing and was gifted with languages, being fluent in both Japanese and Chinese.
[…] K was both Japanese and Chinese. His mother is Chinese and lived in Japan for nearly ten years, while his father is a Japanese man who has spent nearly half of his life in China. K spent most of his early years, before the age of three, at my wife’s family home in China. Regardless of how the outside world might report on this tragedy, the fact that he has roots in both Japan and China will never change.
We will not hate China, nor will we hate Japan. Regardless of nationality, we consider both countries our own. While customs and cultures may differ, we know better than anyone that at our core, we are all the same. Therefore, I do not wish for the actions of a few vile individuals with twisted minds to harm the relationship between the two nations. My only wish is that such a tragedy never happens again. [Source]
