Seven children hacked to death at nursery school in China - TheNewTopical.com - current events, politics, culture, ethics, economics discussion forum

Zichao · #1 (**permalink**) 12-05-10, 11:39 AM

Seven children hacked to death at nursery school in China - Telegraph

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The attack took place at eight o'clock in the morning in a kindergarten in Nanzheng county, near Hanzhong city, in Shaanxi province, according to Xinhua, the government news agency.

"The injured have been rushed to hospital," said Liu Xiaoming, a local propaganda official, without giving further details.

The attack is the latest in a series of seemingly copycat knife attacks against young children. The spate of violence began at the end of March, when a mentally-unstable former doctor murdered eight children at a school in Fujian province.

That crime sparked further attacks across the country, mostly involving furiously frustrated middle-aged men. Zheng Minsheng, the 42-year-old who was executed for the attack in Fujian, said he had been prompted by "failures in his romantic life and in society," according to Xinhua.

On April 29, a man locked the doors of a kindergarten class in Taixing, in Jiangsu province, and slashed at the children inside, wounding at least 28. The government has yet to reveal the number of children who may have died.

The following day, a man armed with a hammer attacked children in north east China before setting himself on fire.

Since then, the Chinese government has ordered intense security at all schools, redeploying thousands of troops and equipping security guards with restraining poles and pepper spray. In Beijing, the police say they have stopped seven more attempts on schools in the past month.

However, the extra security has so far been unable to protect children in the countryside, and parents have voiced their panic.

Zhu Li, a professor of sociology at Nanjing University, said the media was partly to blame for the copycat attacks. "Some people may not have considered stabbing school children, but because of the media coverage, they were inspired," he said, to the China Daily newspaper.

I'd love for this to be some big, wierdo conspiracy à la Chaos Head/20th Century Boys/Suicide Circle, but it'll turn out to just be a trend.

Zichao · #2 (**permalink**) 12-05-10, 03:12 PM

Hmm.. Could I amalgamate this with the "kids with the same name die violent deaths" thread and just have one for mysterious fatality clusters in China?

Why do Foxconn employees keep jumping off buildings? | ChinaHush

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May 6, another Foxconn worker leaped to his death, and this is jump number 7 since January, another suicide, again jumping off a building, again at Foxconn. People call it the “7 consecutive jumps”. I also recall writing about an incident last July, a Chinese worker at Foxconn committed suicide after iPhone prototype went missing. Everyone wants to know why so many Foxconn workers are jumping to their death, 7 of them just this year? What was behind the incidents? Is it coincidence or inevitable? In response to people’s concerns, recently CCTV “News 1+1” reporter conducted an investigation on this.

Lu Xin, 24 years old, joined Foxconn in August 2009. In the company newcomers’ talent contest, the new college grad won 2nd place. But on May 6 morning, this young man who loved music, once was even a contestant on the “Super Boy” show chose to leap off the building and ended his young life.

Zeng Hongling (Lu Xin’s college classmate) recalled, “He said he was going to look at the scenery and right after he finished his sentence, he quickly slide open the window and jumped onto the balcony, then jumped off from the balcony. He never hesitated. I tried to grab him, but only pulled his clothes on his left arm, he threw my hand off.”

Zeng Hongling felt guilty because he couldn’t grab on to Lu, he was Lu’s college classmate and joined Foxcoon together with him after graduating. Ever since May 1, Zeng noticed that Lu was not in a good mental state. He often said someone was following him and even trying to kill him. He also expressed thoughts of going back to his home town in Hunan Province.

Zeng Hongling, “Every time when he got off the car, he went looking for the patrol police, he said that someone people want to kill him and want to harm him.”

Lu registered a blog in February, it recorded his dreams of pursuing music. In his last post on March 4, Lu Xin wrote, “If I really could, I would write music every day. I don’t have money, don’t have music hardware equipment, even don’t want to spend money on a computer, even more, cannot find a record company, youth flies away. 24 years old, I can still do it? I will devote, at least this year I am going to pursue.”

Lu’s death left people with regrets, and also a little puzzled, in fact this is the number 7 Foxconn worker jumping-off-building-suicide incident coming into 2010.

Here is the rundown:

January 23, 2010, at 4 pm, 19 year old Foxconn employee Ma Xiangqian died. The Police investigation said it was a high-fall death.

March 17, 2010, in Foxconn Longhua park district, a new female employee jumped from the 3rd floor dormitory, was injured after the fall.

March 29, 2010, in Longhua factory district, a male worker fell from the dormitory building, died on the spot, 23 years of age.

April 6, 2010, 18 year old female worker Rao jumped from Misson Hills C8 female dormitory building, currently still hospitalized.

April 7, 2010, at Mission Hills outside factory dormitory, a female employ named Ning fell to her death at age 18.

April 7, 2010, Mission Hills Cheung Kok Estate, Foxconn male employee committed suicide and died at age 22.

May 6, 2010, Longhua factory district male worker Lu Xin jumped off a 6 floor balcony and died at age 24.

According to Foxconn, the similarities of these suicide incidents are, the deceased are aged between 18 and 23, and they are all newly recruits of Foxconn.

In an interview, Foxconn spokesman Liu Kun admitted that the management has loopholes, but facing the huge number of 420,000 employees in Shenzhen, and as for why the spate of such incidents; how to avoid similar incidents from occurring, he also seemed to be helpless.

Liu Kun:

Do we really have preventions in place? Can we really touch 420,000 people’s heart? As a business, we are not capable of doing this. And I don’t know what reason will cause the eighth jump.

Host:

After the incident on May 6, some psychological experts were invited to Shenzhen Foxconn, including the Deputy Director of Qinghua University, Department of Psychology of Conflict Fan Fumin.

Director Fan, we know that Lu Xin was finally determined to have mental issues, but the company only sent his friend to accompany him, why was he not directly sent to the hospital?

Fan Fumin:

This is a good question. The company has its difficulties. Logically speaking, people with mental disorders should be taken to the hospital, but who has the right to do so? In general, it requires the consent of the family. Because we don’t have such law, generally only the police have the rights, the company cannot force to send him to the hospital.

Host:

I understand. I also have a question for you, because we know this is already the 7th incident since this year. So many building jumping suicides in such short time, from a scientific principle point of view, is the rate of occurrence considered high?

Fan Fumin:

Statistics from the World health Organization is based on suicide rate of per 100,000. Currently China’s suicide rate is about, according to health Ministry statistics, around 16 per 100,000.

Host:

Is this in one year?

Fan Fumin:

Yes, after we went to Foxconn, we feel it is a very large company with over 400,000 people.

Host:

You think 400,000 people company has…

Fan Fumin:

2 to 3 out of 100,000, we also compiled statistics for college students, about 2 to 3 out of 100,000.

Host:

Do you think this is low or within the range?

Fan Fumin:

Compare to China’s national suicide rate, should be low.

Host: OK

Fan Fumin:

But age 15 to 34, from the statists suicide is the main cause of death.

Host:

Ok, thank you. Yiansong, directory Fan thinks the suicide rate is in the normal range, what do you think?

Bai Yiansong:

I think this issue has two levels, first as a business, Foxconn has its difficulties, one it’s a factory, the factory district where Lu Xin committed suicide has 30,000 people, including Shenzhen, it has over 40,000 people, like a sizable city. But it is not equivalent to a city, because in a big city, there are families, the kind of psychological comfort, affection and effective observations between family members and so on. In a city formed by families is actually easier, but in here is an obviously a factory district. Children between 18 – 23 years old, born after 80s and 90s are 80% of the entire population, over 300,000, this is a very scary figure.

Second, post 80s and 90s new generation working in a foreign place, their resilience and ability to endure hardship is weaker than the previous generation. Also this generation’s self esteem is more fragile, they feel more pressured and they have more dreams. Not just taking care of the family, they have their own dreams, often easily pressured in this tin-can like factory district. Dreams disappear, they easily become desperate, it is truly difficult, but this is only one aspect.

Host:

You said the company has difficulties, what are their responsibilities?

Bai Yiansong:

Yes, I want to say the other side of the coin, as Foxconn’s spokesman said, “Facing Lu’s suicide, this time we tried our best.” First I admit they have tried this time. Because Lu Xin had illusions including someone tries to kill him, they requested psychological specialist and also his friend to accompany him. They also brought his parents from far away to Shenzhen. His parents were 4 hours away from Shenzhen before he committed suicide. But I feel at least there are two points we would like to question.

First, I think actually telling Lu in advance that his parents are coming was not necessarily a good choice. Because he was already delusional, there has been a lot of pressure and frustration that he was very afraid of meeting his parents, so called he has no face to see them. Parents are coming may became a catalyst and generated more pressure.

Second, I think everyone will understand once i say it. Before this, there have been six other jumping incidents, this time he and the two people who accompanied him were arranged to stay on the sixth floor. Even the spokesperson said, “Only if the psychological experts gave us more detailed guidance, we would not have put him on the sixth floor.” Even if it was first floor or the basement, this tragedy will at least be delayed. Therefore I think this is merely a representation of the responsibility, there are more responsibilities behind.

The reporter then interviewed many Foxconn job seekers and employees. Job seekers came here because they heard that the compensation is decent here and Foxconn had a good reputation. But many employees reveled that Foxconn has many management issues. “I can only say that Foxconn provided employee handbooks and their management requirements, they are very good. However the lower level is a mess, lower level management is a mess.” Female worker Ma Liqun said, “Our level employees work hard, everyday working like machines, you can say that we are trained to become machines. Another thing is the lower level leaders do not respect our self-esteem. Sometimes, they yell at us, being yelled at is normal.”

Another employee Liu Lan said, “In an ordinary workshop in Foxconn, to complete a circuit board requires dozens of procedures, needs every workers to be accurate to the seconds. The atmosphere has a strong emphasis on efficiency and execution. For example, posters on the walls that say “Value efficiency, every minute every second!” can be seen everywhere.”

But when starting to work here, if experiencing psychological problems, they can get help from newly formed Employees Care Center.

Liu Shen:

There is a telephone hotline, 785785, that is please help me please help me (phonetically in Chinese). When someone calls in, we will contact various sectors. Since the recent building jumping incidents, we already effectively intervened over 20 possible tragedies.

Bai Yangsong:

First Foxxcon, as a one of the fortune 500 companies, I think it is easy to condemn, but also hope that Foxconn will make a standard for other companies when facing similar problems and make a clear path.

I think first, it is too big, this plant has more than 300,000 people, and Shenzhen over 400,000. A good company is not because it is big, but if it can let people to be closer. For example, in the 7 suicide incidents, many of them, in their dorms, 8 people shared a room. But because living is arranged according to working distance, the people in the same dorm still do not know their phone numbers after over a year, never contacted them. So when they had issues, including Lu Xin, they first went to the classmate. So how to be small in a big company, feel warmth in a smaller place, not letting everything feel hopeless amount 300,000 people. You have to know Lu Xin is not an ordinary migrant worker, he graduated from college to become a leader here, however there are over thousands of leaders at Foxconn, think about the pressure.

Second is to change someone’s thinking. We can no longer treat this generation like the older generation of migrant workers and have high expectation of their toughness and patience. This is a new group, post 80s and 90s are not the same as before.

I also have a suggestion, if you want to cruelly analyze the suicide rate to be not so high compare to 400,000 people, but the problem is there are 6 suicides since March. Foxconn should really work on preventions. Because this kind of suicide has a certain tendency of imitation, when seeing other people jumping, during one’s painful time, he/she may also choose this method. Intervene early, I think is good for preventing it from spreading. Of course, I very much hope Foxconn will make a gesture.

Host:

Companies like Foxconn is labor-intensive, and the future labor cost may be increasing, profit margin will become smaller and smaller. Maybe when facing this issue in the future it must consider.

Bai Yangsong:

I think not just Foxconn, China’s future development are facing a new game, that is the cost is getting bigger, not only the cost of wages, but new costs, cost of psychological needs, cost of harmony, cost of communication with the employees. I feel any business in the future when calculating the cost must consider these elements. I think China’s reform is at a point facing a new challenge, that is before we attracted a steady stream of people, and we do not have to consider their benefits, mental states and recreations, but now we have to.

As I am writing this, jump number 8 happened today, May 11, a Foxconn female employee jumped off 8th floor of a building to her death…

Zichao · #3 (**permalink**) 13-05-10, 11:12 PM

China News: The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy | China Digital Times (CDT)

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The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy

(Prepared to be Harmonized*)

From the time that Zheng Minsheng repeatedly slit the throats of those young children, a wheel of tragedy was put in motion.

Very quickly, Zheng was sentenced to death to be carried out immediately. Two days after we reporters were sent out to cover this incident, the propaganda department sternly ordered us to return. What they eventually told us was obvious from the start—we could not conduct interviews, we could not editorialize, we could only publish drafts that had been prepared by Xinhua News. At times I really feel like it’s so tragic but also so ridiculous. Even if we did conduct interviews, what would come of it? Even if we did editorialize, what would come of it? For a lot of things can there really by any harm caused by giving a full and clear accounting of what transpired? Can you establish peace on earth just by hiding things and covering them up?

Of course you can’t establish peace that way. After all the news media organizations were forced to castrate themselves, the second slaughter of young students occurred, followed closely by the third, then the fourth. If they weren’t elementary school students, then they were preschool students. All were totally unarmed and defenseless children. For these incidents that followed, our instructions were the same. After the slaughter in Taixing, while a colleague was still on the plane, the order came once again. Propaganda department, fuck your mother hard 100 times over!

In the beginning, I wondered whether the media’s reporting caused more deranged lunatics to imitate the actions of others and recreate their own cold-blooded slaughter. Later [I] discovered this was not the case; it turns out that most media organizations didn’t say anything about these incidents. Like us, they too were forced by this series of bloody murders onto the wall of shame—unable to report and unable to editorialize. We are also all unable to just express our overflowing anger by cursing them bitterly. In this regard, we are just a bunch of shameless spectators watching these murderers take the stage one after another—and during all of this spectacle forced to remain silent.

When everyone, one after another, becomes silent, the wheel of tragedy is already set in motion. The first people it crushes are those poor children and the dreams of their parents. Next is Zheng Minsheng [the first murderer], followed by the second group of children, followed by the second murderer. . . until finally, finally those crushed will be the children of the propaganda department. Of course when the children of the propaganda department are slaughtered, we will also not say anything. We will just watch silently from the side as these young lives vanish. Then we will see the propaganda department go insane, just like how the parents in Taixing lost their sanity. Or perhaps, we in this process, have already been crushed [by this wheel of tragedy].

At times, I am full of hope for this country. That is because while its 5000 years of history have been filled with twists and turns, the teachings of courtesy, justice, benevolence, and trust remain deeply inscribed in our bones. However, at other times, I am filled with despair for this country. That is because despite the fact that during our 5000 years of history we have had countless wise people use the rise and fall of dynasties to leave behind so many ancient teachings—despite this, there are still those who stubbornly repeat the mistakes of history—not letting people look, not letting people speak, not letting people think. Is this the way to establish peace on earth?

Clearly, the murder of these children was despicable. People should at least know how those responsible had become so cruel. Why were all these people males, all around forty years of age, with low levels of education, and unstable incomes? Why would they take such extreme measures to seek revenge on society? What had society ever done to them?

What was their housing like? I feel like if they had houses they probably were not very nice. They certainly could not afford to live in commercial real estate developments; they couldn’t even hope of affording those. What about medical care? They certainly could not afford to pay any medical bills. What about education? None of them received very good education. It could also be said that the time they most needed education happened to be the time when things were most chaotic.** What about work? Without an education how could they hope to find a decent job……

What is most frightening is that during the 5000 years of this nation’s history, while there has always been social stratification, there has never been a time like there is today where people unabashedly worship money, where people openly look down upon those in lower social classes, and where people do not even attempt to hide their scorn of the poor!

Ideological heavy-handedness in post-1949 China nearly destroyed the collective wisdom and culture accumulated over the course of 5000 years of history. On the surface all you see is this façade of a beautiful world with favorable winds and rains. All you hear about are things like how 115 coal miners were saved from the Wangjialing coal mine. But have I been a reporter for all these years without having learned a thing or two? After water had been seeping into the mine for eight days how could the “survivors” emerge with such rosy cheeks? How could they still have strength to applaud their rescue? Even though their hands had been darkened you could still below their wrists areas of snow-white flesh. If you tell a lie one hundred times will you really start thinking it’s true?

Right now, China does not have a “buffer layer.” Whenever there’s an acute conflict, be it a social conflict or an ethical conflict, people treat it as a matter of life or death. There is no room given for a buffer. What is this buffer? It should be one’s beliefs; it should be benevolence; even more than that, it should be heartfelt sympathy. And who should most possess this kind of sympathy? It should be our great and glorious government agencies. So then why is it that I always see the big fish eating up the small fish and the peoples’ interests wrested from their hands?

Once the wheel of tragedy is set in motion it is difficult to stop it from moving. Who knows but that the last to fall will be those who sit atop the machine carried by this wheel of tragedy.

* “Harmonized” refers to an article being deleted by web censors in order to create a “harmonious society.”

** This probably refers to the fact the formative years of the murderers coincided with major disruptions in Chinese society such as the Cultural Revolution.

CDT is hella anti-the-ZF, but I still think that this gives a pretty good impression of how bizarrely little information we've got about all of these killings, and how totally paranoid/cynical everyone is about the media.

Seems like this latest guy wasn't nuts at all. I think that he and some woman were the landlords of the school and he wanted to end the lease so they got into an argument about it and he rushed off and killed a bunch of the kids, her, her mother and himself.

Zichao · #4 (**permalink**) 13-05-10, 11:20 PM

Property dispute drove Wu Huanming to kill seven Chinese children | World news | The Guardian

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Villagers thought him gentle and kind; and one generous act stood out above the rest. In his twenties, Wu Huanming took in a young disabled boy he found on the streets.

"The child was always warmly and newly dressed; any time he caught a cold Wu would rush him to the doctor. He took great care of him, but when people asked why, he just said the kid brought him luck," said a neighbour.

But yesterday morning this tender-hearted man hacked to death seven kindergarten pupils, their teacher and her mother, wounding 11 more three- to six-year-olds. The assault in Lincheng village, Hanzhong, in north-western Shaanxi province, would horrify any community. It is all the more shocking because it is China's fifth such attack on young children since late March. In all, 15 have been killed and 60 injured.

That this attacker was successful and well-liked makes it all the more incomprehensible. That many of his victims were their parents' only children, thanks to China's birth control policies, underscores its cruelty. In minutes he destroyed the centre of his friends' and neighbours' lives.

"They were so young and innocent," said one shocked mother, as her "active, outgoing" daughter lay unconscious in a hospital bed. "We still don't know how serious the injuries are and fear she will suffer lasting trauma. How will she be able to spend the rest of her life?"

Wu knew the little girl, as he did many of his victims; the family considered him a friend and he often dropped in to chat. Now they feel only hatred.

"If he was still alive we would all have used our knives to hack at him, one by one, until he too was dead," her grandmother said.

The trigger for his violence appears banal: a property dispute. Wu, 48, had rented a house next to the kindergarten and wanted it to move out when the lease expired in April. Wu Hongying, the teacher, wanted to stay until summer.

The disagreement erupted into an open row this week. Too scared to intervene, neighbours shut their doors when Wu ran back to his house and grabbed a meat cleaver. Tall and powerfully built, he quickly overcame the 50-year-old teacher and attacked her 80-year-old mother. Then, raining blow after blow upon their heads, he wounded or killed every child attending class that day. Most seem to have been rooted to the spot in shock. One little boy, despite his injuries, escaped to raise the alarm.

Villagers said their legs buckled when they entered the blood-soaked kindergarten room. Children lay motionless upon or underneath desks. Another was slumped by the door, with a long, inch-wide wound across her scalp.

By then, Wu had returned home. His cousin has reported seeing the killer standing on his balcony, smoking a cigarette as he watched villagers rush to rescue the children. Then he went inside and killed himself. Officials have responded to the epidemic of violence in China with high profile security measures. In Changsha, Hunan province, police officers with submachine guns are reportedly guarding some kindergartens. Chongqing has pledged to spend 1.2bn yuan (£120m) on extra police patrols and security guards.

Hanzhong had stationed 2,000 extra police officers and guards around the city's schools two days before Wu's attack; the kindergarten, small and privately run, appears to have been unprotected. Police have since set up roadblocks round the village and residents reported patrols through the night. There is a heavy police presence outside the hospitals treating injured children.

Some journalists in the area were followed or stopped and relatives said they had been ordered not to speak to reporters. Though some talked to the Guardian, none would be identified. At one hospital an official interrupted a man's description of his grandson with the order: "Don't tell them anything."

Domestic media coverage relating to recent attacks has given minimal detail of incidents, instead focusing on preventive measures. There is undoubtedly real concern that reports will spark further copycat assaults. But many experts argue that must be balanced with the public's right to know; several Hanzhong residents were unaware of the recent attacks. Others believe more open discussion would help to ensure security measures are matched by efforts to address underlying causes.

"It's not that [China's leaders] are immune or unconcerned or not in anguish. I think it has to do with trying to figure out what they need to do about it," said Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based political analyst, of the government's focus on protecting schools.

Some experts have pointed to the desperate need to improve awareness of and treatment for mental illness in China. Others warn that rocketing inequality, allied to massive social change, is leaving many citizens bewildered and alienated. But though Lincheng is poor — many from the village become migrant workers, with several parents travelling hundreds of miles to their children's bedsides this week — Wu was one of Lincheng's wealthiest residents. Unlike other recent attackers, portrayed as unsuccessful loners, the tree merchant had a wife and family; his biological son is now a university student.

Last month he told a villager that he had become ill and could no longer work; there are rumours he had cancer and believed it terminal. He had complained of sleeplessness and a relative, Wu Huangcheng, told Reuters that he had been "talking nonsense … like he was unbalanced." He had no history of mental problems. Perhaps there are no real explanations for Wu's act.

At one hospital red-eyed parents leapt to their feet for a glimpse as orderlies pushed three victims from surgery to intensive care. The children's heads, though doubled in size by thick bandages, were tiny upon the pillows. A little hand fell limply from beneath a blanket.

The suffering of children brings anguish anywhere. But in China they are particularly precious because of the importance of continuing family lines, said experts. "Children are the most important part of the family because the one-child policy is so strict these days," added one survivor's grandmother.

In Lincheng family planning injunctions are painted upon the walls. One includes the government promise: "Children will be happy all their lives."

Additional research by Kuang Ling

Zichao · #5 (**permalink**) 26-05-10, 04:08 PM

More Foxconn stuff: Foxconn “Suicides” & “Secrets”, Chinese Netizen Reactions – chinaSMACK

Comments/guy with no arms writing message of support/conspiracy theory from a guy claiming to work in logistics at FC.

It's a bit odd - now everyone's talking about how it was the slavery-like conditions for workers on the factory floor that made them do it, but the early reports made it sound like at least two of the suicides were university grad salaryman types. Like in the playgroup killings it's really difficult to get good info.

LiberalNation · #6 (**permalink**) 26-05-10, 06:31 PM

weird