Mass stabbing in China
On 16 November 2024, a former student stabbed twenty-five people, killing eight, at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in Yixing, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. He was executed two months later.
Background.
The Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology is a full-time public general professional college located in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. According to the college profile, it occupies nearly 1,000 square metres of land and has a building area of about 290,000 square metres.
Chinese law requires all vocational college undergraduates to work for a semester or more. During such period, some schools will act as foremen and send students to factories in need of workers, often working long hours for very little salary.
Attack.
Around 6:30 p.m. local time, 21-year-old former student Xu Jiajin went on a stabbing spree at the college while classes were ongoing, killing eight and injuring 17 others.
According to media sources, the assailant hid in bushes on campus before entering a female dormitory and stabbing students indiscriminately. Pictures of the scene showed victims on the ground with blood on their clothes. Some students said that their roommates were stabbed and told others not to go out. Many students hid in their dormitories and even sealed their doors with clothing boxes to prevent the murderer from breaking in.
Several police cars and ambulances were parked outside the college, and police officers entered with shields in hand. The assailant confronted the police at the college playground with knives, and they pointed flashlights at the assailant. A police officer subdued him while he was on his side, as several male students also came forward to help.
At around 11:30 p.m. that night, the Yixing City Public Security Bureau reported that the assailant had been arrested on the spot and admitted to the crime. Some of the injured were sent to the new campus of Yixing People's Hospital.
Perpetrator.
The perpetrator was identified as Xu Jiajin, a 21-year-old recent graduate of the college.
Motive.
According to police, the perpetrator was a 2024 graduate of the college and had failed his exams. He allegedly confessed "without hesitation" to committing the attack due to anger over not receiving his graduation certificate, poor exam results, and "dissatisfaction with internship compensation".
An alleged suicide note of the perpetrator circulating on social media included the statement that he was owed wages by a factory he was working at and that the college had withheld his diploma, preventing him from graduating. It also included statements such as "I hope that my death will lead to the advancement of labor laws" and "long live the proletariat."
Aftermath.
Due to the attack occurring five days after the Zhuhai car ramming, the incident received worldwide media attention. Bouquets of flowers were placed at one entrance of the college but were later removed by security. Chinese authorities censored online discussion of the attack; the only information on the Chinese internet about the attack is the official police report.
Reporters tried to interview the school's principal, but received the response that they were busy. The Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party led by Xin Changxing held a meeting and later issued a notice that police forces must pay high attention to the incident and that surveillance in crowded areas must be strengthened.
As of 17 November, the injured victims, aged 18–19, were being treated, and investigations were still underway.
Xu was sentenced to death on 17 December 2024 and was executed on 20 January 2025, the same day as another Chinese mass killer, Fan Weiqiu, who killed 35 people five days before the stabbings.
References.
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