Shock has spread across Nanjing in the past 24 hours, with the news of a student stabbed to death in our City on campus. Such a murder within a student community has citizens concerned over an increasingly-brutal sentiment in society that has now spread to universities.
The male student was stabbed in the afternoon of 5 June in a dormitory at Zijin College of Nanjing University of Science and Technology in Xianlin. Authorities confirmed the murder yesterday, 7 June.
The victim is believed to have been from Chongqing, as posted online by a female claiming to be the victim’s sister. She added that her family had rushed from Chongqing to Nanjing in the aftermath of the murder.
A suspect in the killing is in custody. Little is known about their identity, but it is thought they are a fellow student and that some disagreement led to the stabbing.
China has traditionally been a very safe place and while it continues to be so, there is no denying the increase in violet crime of late. As Epoch Times reports, at least 40 people died in homicides nationwide last month.
To highlight three other recent incidents, close to home and also one in a university, it can be seen that an overflowing of aggression is the common factor.
On 2 June, it was reported that an attempted murder occurred at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan. An insider broke the news that the cause of the incident was the break up of a student couple. The jilted boy attempted to strangle his ex, before she was rescued by her classmates. Local police detained the assailant.
And just 2 days prior, two people were stabbed to death in a textile Factory in Nantong of our very own Jiangsu Province. The suspect, surnamed Xiao (male; 36), took the lives of the victims; a 51-year old female surnamed Zhu and a 24-year old male surnamed Liu, in Chuanjiang Town.
A selection of citizen’s comments posted online since this week’s student killing in Nanjing sum up the national sentiment of late in the light of such attacks:
- “When I saw the news just now, my heart was hit hard. How could such a thing happen?”
- “[Imagine] studying hard for more than 10 years and getting through the tough college entrance examination, only to go to uni to be murdered.”
- “I’m a little scared now. I had a conflict with my roommate before because I went to bed a little late. He smashed up my bed at the sounds of me getting in. Then the conflict became more serious. … I dare not tell our counsellor, for fear he will kill me out of revenge.”
- “Society’s surly and cruel out-of-control emotions have now spread to a university.”
It should be reiterated that China is an exceptionally-safe place. While the reasons for the increased aggression are undoubtedly many and varied, it seems certain that playing a pivotal role in such incidents would be the financial pressure many continue to feel in the wake of 3 years of COVID.