Ten-Year-Old Japanese Boy Killed in Knife Attack near School in China

A ten-year-old Japanese boy died from his wounds on Thursday morning after he was stabbed by a 44-year-old Chinese man near a school in Shenzhen, China.

Wednesday was the anniversary of the 1931 Mukden Incident, a bomb attack on a Japanese-owned railway in China. The Japanese blamed Chinese nationalists for carrying out the attack, setting the stage for Imperial Japan to invade and occupy the area. Modern historians consider it possible that the Japanese army staged the railroad bombing as a pretext for invading China.

September 18 is a day of national remembrance in China and it is a day they do not remember fondly. Japan has been complaining about a rising tide of anti-Japanese sentiment on Chinese social media over the past few months, including incendiary posts from some major Chinese social media influencers.

“I actually did not know 18th September was this day for Chinese people to take revenge for things in the Second World War,” the grieving Japanese father of the murdered boy said on Thursday.

“I have lived here for seven years and did not know we need to be cautious for being Japanese while living in China,” he said.

The victim, accompanied by his Chinese mother, was on his way to classes at a school that serves the hundreds of Japanese families living in Shenzhen. The assault, which took place within 200 yards of the school, was extremely brutal. Rescuers tried to keep the boy alive with a heart massage as he bled from stab wounds to the abdomen. 

The boy died in the hospital on Thursday morning after Chinese doctors “made every effort to save his life,” according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. 

Little information has been released about the attacker, aside from local officials describing him as “unemployed” and possibly driven by “a grievance against society.”

A similar attack took place in June, when a Japanese mother and child were assaulted at a bus stop in Suzhou, a city near Shanghai. A female Chinese bus driver named Hu Youping heroically grappled with the knife-wielding assailant, who stabbed her to death while the Japanese woman and her child escaped. Police and bus passengers were then able to subdue the knife man.

Hu Youping was hailed as a hero in both China and Japan for her actions, raising some hopes that tensions between the two populations might dissipate, but any such relief was short-lived. The Chinese government had to kick its censorship machinery into overdrive to delete hundreds of hateful posts from Chinese social media users who were furious that a Chinese woman died protecting Japanese nationals.

Two weeks ago, four American college instructors and a Chinese bystander were attacked by a 55-year-old knife-wielding man in the northeastern city of Jilin. All of the victims recovered from their injuries.

Both the Japanese people and their government have expressed outrage at the wanton slaying of the schoolboy in Shenzhen. Their anger was only increased by bland statements from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which expressed perfunctory “regret and heartache” for the death of the schoolboy and promised to “provide the necessary assistance to his family to take care of his affairs.”

“According to the information currently available, this is an individual case, and such incidents could occur in any country,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference in Beijing.

Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko said on Thursday she was “saddened” by the “despicable” attack on the little boy.

Kamikawa said her government has urged Chinese officials to “make every possible effort” to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals, and to provide the Japanese government with a detailed account of the boy’s murder. She said Japan had asked China to increase security for Japanese ahead of the Mukden Incident anniversary.

Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Okano Masataka summoned the Chinese ambassador on Wednesday to express “serious concerns” about the attack. Okano demanded stronger security for “Japanese schools throughout China.”

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio told reporters on Thursday the Shenzhen murder was a “despicable crime and a serious and grave matter.”

“We strongly demand that the Chinese side explain the facts of the case. As more than a day has already passed since the crime, we have instructed them to provide an explanation as soon as possible,” he said.

“Such an incident must never be repeated. We strongly urged the Chinese side to ensure the safety of Japanese people,” Kishida declared.

Shenzhen residents placed wreaths at the gates of the little boy’s school on Thursday and mourned his death.

“As Chinese people, we oppose this behavior, we oppose teachings of hatred. Many of us have been under such teachings of hate for a long time, leading to such evil consequences,” said one local man.

Other Chinese residents of Shenzehn said they were “ashamed” of the attack, condemned it as “unforgivable,” and feared it would have a “negative impact on Sino-Japanese relations going forward.”