Four US teachers attacked in China

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Four American educators visiting northeast China as part of a teacher exchange program were stabbed to death in a brutal attack on Monday, according to Chinese and American authorities.

The teachers were in the northeastern city of Jilin as part of a partnership program between Beihua University in Jilin and Cornell College, a small liberal arts college in Iowa.

The attack took place in a public park near the Beihua campus. Video footage of the incident uploaded to social media shows three people lying on the ground, bleeding profusely. All three victims appear to be calling for help as a crowd of Chinese people gather around them.

The violence against the teachers occurred against the backdrop of strained relations between Beijing and Washington, which Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to improve through increased people-to-people contacts.

Footage and discussion of the attack were censored in China, as is common with sensitive issues or large-scale violence. Nationalist commentator Hu Xijin wrote on Weibo that he hoped the victims “get medical attention quickly and recover.” The post later disappeared.

China’s Foreign Ministry told reporters on Tuesday that police believe the attack was an isolated incident and that an investigation was underway. Spokesman Lin Jian added that all of the injured had been taken to hospital and received appropriate medical treatment. None of them were in critical condition.

“China is generally considered one of the safest countries in the world,” Lin said, adding that the incident “will not affect the normal course of cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States.”

“The Chinese side has always taken and will continue to take effective measures to truly protect the safety of all foreigners in China,” Lin added.

A US State Department spokesman said they were “aware of reports of a knife attack in Jilin” and were “monitoring the situation”.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said she was in contact with the U.S. State Department “in response to this horrific attack.”

“Please pray for their full recovery, their safe return and for their families here at home,” she wrote on the social media platform X.

Iowa State Rep. Adam Zabner said his brother, David Zabner, a graduate student at Tufts University, was one of the victims and was stabbed in the arm during the attack.

“I spoke to David a few minutes ago, he is recovering from his injuries and doing well,” Zabner wrote on social media. “My family is incredibly grateful that David survived this attack.”

A post about the attack was still visible on the Chinese social media portal Zhihu on Tuesday afternoon. Some users asked whether the repeated stoking of anti-foreigner and anti-American sentiments by the Chinese state media could have led to the attack.

“They are criticized in the media every day and now action has been taken,” wrote a user from Guangdong province.

Additional reporting by Nian Liu in Beijing