China Silences Car Attack Mourners, Vows Tighter Grip on Society

Bloomberg News
·5-min read

(Bloomberg) -- By Wednesday afternoon, an eerie quiet hung over the site of China’s deadliest known act of civilian violence in years. As traffic flowed freely past the now-deserted Zhuhai Sports Center Stadium, a yellow-and-black-clad Meituan courier pulled up on his motorbike.

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The driver opened his delivery box — usually used to ferry food — and took out a bouquet of flowers. He placed them on a ledge, snapped a photograph and left. Three minutes later, a man in plain clothes appeared and removed them, part of a constant process to erase traces of the carnage, after 35 people were deliberately mowed down by a motorist just days earlier.

A veil of silence around the attack — which had lifted briefly — was descending again.

“They threw all the flowers away — I don’t understand,” said a 23-year-old computer science student surnamed Huang, who lives nearby and asked to be identified by only her surname. “We need to know more about the victims. I hope they will be seen,” she added, starting to cry.

For President Xi Jinping, a recent spate of violent killings culminating in Monday’s mass murder is challenging the forcefield of state surveillance he erected after a slew of deadly terror attacks rocked China about a decade ago. Top leaders already battling a rise in discontent over the nation’s economic downturn are now ramping up controls as they seek to stabilize society.

That effort to tamp down emotions in Zhuhai — a city in southern China near Hong Kong — risks making Communist Party officials appear unfeeling. Victims remain nameless and faceless to the public, with authorities not yet releasing details beyond saying the 62-year-old killer, surnamed Fan, was anguished over his divorce settlement. No member of China’s elite seven-man Standing Committee has publicly visited the site.

Provincial party chief Huang Kunming came the closest to an open display of condolence, calling the incident “extremely shocking and saddening” at a meeting to coordinate the investigation. Local officials said they plan to offer victims compensation and counseling, without providing a timeframe, and visited a hospital where dozens are wounded.

The Zhuhai government didn’t reply to a faxed request for comment on whether officials would hold a press conference and reports that public memorials were being removed.

“The sensible thing to do is to create a pressure valve to allow people to vent their grievances and anger — online or offline,” said Lynette Ong, professor of Chinese politics at the University of Toronto. “But this is not going to happen under Xi Jinping. You are going to have very, very strict surveillance from now on.”

While China’s surveillance regime — featuring hundreds of millions of cameras and an army of internet censors — is good at preempting mass protests, it’s less effective at preventing individual acts, Ong said. That could spur officials to implement stricter measures, such as weapons checks and random car inspections, potentially stoking anger and resentment in society, she added.

Already, there are signs that’s happening. After Xi urged officials up and down the country to step up efforts to prevent attacks, China’s Ministry of Public Security on Wednesday vowed to tighten control of society and increase patrols in places of public assembly, in a statement issued after an emergency meeting.

Communist Party chiefs from Beijing and Guangdong also huddled on Xi’s instruction, with leaders from the southern province vowing to tighten security at sports facilities, schools and hospitals. Officials from the capital city also promised to strengthen controls at public venues.

Split Screen

It was Monday evening when the rampage began. Across town, China was preparing to unveil its latest stealth fighter jet at the Zhuhai Airshow the following day. Not even a brutal car-ramming that left scores of bodies strewn would derail that effort, as the J-35A built to compete with the US military on Tuesday made headlines around the world.

Hours after that burst of national pride, details of the tragedy emerged on state media, sending shockwaves across the country. In Zhuhai, word had already spread as videos and messages rippled through WeChat and social media apps Xiaohongshu and Weibo — until Chinese censors went to work.

While posts of candles paying tribute were permitted on Weibo, by Wednesday the makeshift memorials that sprung up around the area were being cleared away, watched by plainclothes police.

The carnage at a downtown stadium popular with middle-aged “speed walkers” was hard to comprehend, according to local residents who asked not to be identified discussing a sensitive topic. Zhuhai is generally seen as a relaxed city that’s a desirable retirement spot because of its slow lifestyle, beautiful harbor and good weather.

Several high-profile stabbings including an attack at a Shanghai supermarket, and the killing of a Japanese schoolboy, have “eroded the sense of public safety,” according to Hanzhang Liu, an assistant professor of political studies at Pitzer College in California.

“It also conveys a sense of pent-up anger and grievances,” she added, noting that was potentially “damaging and threatening to the government, as such latent energy has the potential to mobilize.”

Chinese officials have generally declined to comment on the motive behind recent attacks, only in rare instances revealing details such as when the assailant was unemployed. A yearslong property crash has squeezed the nation’s job market, something officials are urgently trying to reverse with a stimulus rollout aiming to shoring up their wobbling economy.

Off to one corner by the stadium, elderly men sat around tables on Wednesday, playing cards or traditional board games, smoking and laughing. Stores nearby were open but devoid of customers. At one entrance to the plaza, people continued laying bouquets.

A husband and wife who brought a small bunch of pink carnations — which they said symbolized motherhood — choked up describing how they felt.

The couple, both web developers, come to the park often to walk and exercise. The husband, who gave only his last name, Li, said he was having trouble coming to terms with what had unfolded.

“It’s my town. It’s hard to believe this would happen. This is a gathering place for the community,” he said. “The sense of peace has been broken.”

--With assistance from Josh Xiao, Li Liu and Yanping Li.

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