Seven children hacked to death in Chinese school

Anxious: parents of children at the school wait to hear news
12 April 2012

Seven children and a teacher were hacked to death today at a nursery school in north-west China, the fifth attack at the country's schools since March.

The murders happened despite increased security at schools, with new gates and security cameras and police and guards posted at entrances.

Liu Xiaoming, deputy director of propaganda in Hanzhong city, said about 20 others had been wounded. "The murderer killed himself afterwards," he said.

A Nanzheng county resident said crowds had gathered outside the school. He said the attacker was believed to have been a local villager surnamed Wu, in his late forties, who owned the building that houses the school.

"I saw him before and he looked quite normal," said the man.

In Hanzhong, an industrial city of 3.72 million people, nearly 2,000 police and security guards have been patrolling schools and surrounding areas since last week.

Sociologists say the attacks reflect a lack of support for the mentally ill and rising stress resulting from huge social inequalities in China's fast-changing society.

The issues have largely been ignored in state media's reporting of the attacks, which have focused instead on increases in security in an effort to quell public fear and potential unrest.

Others have suggested that the attacks are a form of revenge on society by people with no outlet for their anger in a political environment heavily controlled by the ruling Communist Party.

The government has tried to show it has the problem under control, mindful of worries among middle-class families who, limited in most cases to one child by population control policies, invest huge amounts of money and effort to raise their families.

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