On September 18th, a Japanese boy in Shenzhen was fatally stabbed while on his way to school. Witnesses reported that the boy had multiple stab wounds on his abdomen and thighs, with one witness describing, “His intestines were exposed.”
On the morning of September 19th, Consul General Yoshiko Kijima of Japan in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province confirmed that the stabbed boy had succumbed to his injuries in the early hours of the day.
An acquaintance disclosed to reporters that the victim was a friend’s son, and the incident occurred in the morning as students were heading to school. She was accompanying her own child to school and was about 30 meters away from the victim when the attack took place. The assailant stabbed the boy and then fled towards her, indifferent to the situation.
The acquaintance mentioned that the assailant appeared normal and had discarded the knife before reaching her.
She, along with the mother of the injured boy, rushed the child to the hospital where he was continuously treated from early morning until the following dawn.
According to a report in United Morning Post on September 19th, the victim was of mixed heritage with Chinese and Japanese nationalities.
A nearby resident recounted how his wife witnessed the aftermath of the incident while accompanying their daughter to school. She saw the young boy lying motionless in a pool of blood, with his mother wailing nearby as bystanders attempted to perform CPR on the boy.
Witnesses at the scene confirmed the boy had sustained severe injuries to his abdomen and legs, with blood flowing profusely. The boy’s mother, covered in blood, cried out in Chinese, “What did my child do wrong?” and pleaded for help.
The stabbing of the Japanese boy has sparked panic within the local Japanese community in Shenzhen, leading to the temporary closure of the Shenzhen Japanese School.
Prominent Japanese media figure Akihio Yaita expressed anger on social media, citing this incident as another violent attack targeting Japanese residents in China following the assault on a Japanese mother and child in Suzhou in June. He highlighted the alarming trend of violence against children and condemned the perpetrators.
The Shenzhen police identified the suspect as a 44-year-old Chinese male undergoing interrogation, without specifically mentioning the nationality or background of the victims. Yaita speculated that this omission might be an attempt to downplay the impact of the incident and criticized the online gloating over the tragedy.
He noted the rising anti-Japanese sentiment possibly fueled by the 93rd anniversary of the “918 Incident” and other commemorative events, which have exacerbated tensions. The lack of transparency regarding the motives of previous attacks on Japanese individuals has led some in China to believe that bullying Japanese nationals will go unpunished.
Yaita pointed out that China’s growing domestic economic turmoil has triggered misplaced anger towards foreigners, with decades of anti-Japanese education contributing to significant backlash against the Japanese community.
In a statement on social media, Chinese dissident Wang Dan linked the attack on the Japanese boy in Shenzhen to the “xenophobic sentiment” cultivated by the Chinese Communist Party, asserting that historical nationalism-driven hatred has often led to catastrophic outcomes.
According to a Chinese resident interviewed by reporters, children in mainland China are exposed to anti-Japanese propaganda from a young age. She revealed that her child was taught negative perceptions of Japanese people in primary school due to such systematic indoctrination.
She argued that the Chinese government exploits this narrative to deflect attention from its economic challenges, causing public frustration to manifest in random outbursts, making Japanese individuals easy targets. She expressed concerns about the societal implications of such hate-driven education.
Some Japanese nationals online have issued a joint statement offering condolences to the family of the victim and condemning the indiscriminate attacks on children, viewed as a grave violation of moral and legal standards in human civilization.
The statement acknowledged the sorrow surrounding the incident while recognizing the deep-rooted causes behind such events. It highlighted the prevalence of extreme nationalism and anti-Japanese education in China, which has clouded perceptions and even fueled ignorance and malice. The signatories pledged to work towards changing this unsettling reality.
Japanese nationals will hold a vigil tonight in Shinjuku, Tokyo for the slain boy as a gesture of solidarity and remembrance.