Chinese woman who tried to prevent knife attack on Japanese mother and son dies of injuries

“(We) believe that her courage and kindness represented the broader Chinese public. We hereby pay tribute to Ms. Hu’s great act of justice and wish her a rest in peace,” the message said.

A Japanese boy and his mother were also injured in Monday’s attack; one of them is still in hospital.

Suzhou police had previously said the attacker was a 52-year-old unemployed man surnamed Zhou.

The Suzhou police statement said Hu noticed a knife attack at a bus stop in Suzhou around 4 p.m. on Monday and “immediately rushed over to stop him. He was stabbed several times by the suspect and unfortunately died because he could not be rescued.”

Hu’s brave act “prevented more people from being injured,” it said. This assessment is confirmed by witnesses quoted in Friday’s Xinhua report.

Xinhua also quoted the injured Japanese mother as saying that Hu stopped the attacker and allowed her son to escape.

“Suzhou has taken effective measures and will continue to do so to protect the safety of all people,” Xinhua quoted a Suzhou government official as saying.

The Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily, published a commentary on Friday afternoon stating: “China is a society governed by the rule of law and a safe place.”

“The knife attack was an extremely rare and isolated case and not representative. We also do not accept the behavior of people who incite ‘xenophobia’ and make hate speech,” the article says.

On Friday morning, several hashtags related to Hu’s death were trending on the social network Weibo.

“She protected innocent children and the dignity of the Chinese people,” was one of the most popular comments.

Following Monday’s attack, some ultranationalist and anti-Japanese comments appeared on Weibo. The platform released a statement on Wednesday evening saying that 36 accounts had been blocked for such comments.

“Some individual users have posted extreme remarks inciting national feelings and promoting group hatred, and even called for criminal acts in the name of patriotism,” Weibo said.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Education, there are 12 Japanese schools in 10 cities in mainland China, including one in Beijing and two in Shanghai. There are also two in Hong Kong.

The schools are approved by the Chinese authorities to educate the children of Japanese citizens in China, including businessmen and diplomats.

According to the latest data from the Japanese Foreign Ministry, 102,066 Japanese citizens – including 15,634 children – were living in China in October 2022, down 5.2 percent from the previous year.

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Four US university professors stabbed to death in a park in Jilin, China

Four US university lecturers stabbed to death in a park in Jilin, China

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning expressed her “regret” over the attack and said: “China will take effective measures to protect foreigners in China just as it protects its own citizens.”

Monday’s attack was the second this month to injure foreigners. In another attack, four teachers from the US-based Cornell College were stabbed to death in a park in China’s Jilin province.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian spoke of an “isolated case”.