The woman who was seriously injured while trying to stop a knife-wielding attack on a Japanese school bus in Suzhou has died.
Police in the eastern Chinese city posted an announcement on their website on Thursday saying they would give the title of “righteous and courageous role model” to a woman who died after stopping a knife attack.
The announcement confirmed that Hu Youping, aged 54 years, was the Chinese victim of an attack on a Japanese school bus on Monday afternoon. A later report by the state news agency Xinhua said Hu died on Wednesday.
The Japanese embassy in Beijing lowered its flag to half-mast on Friday morning in honour of Hu, and posted condolences on social media sites X and its Chinese version Weibo.
“[We] believe that her courage and kindness represented the general Chinese public. We hereby salute Ms Hu’s great act of justice and may she rest in peace,” the embassy said.
A Japanese boy and his mother were also hurt in Monday’s attack, one of whom remains in hospital.
Suzhou police earlier said the attacker was a 52-year-old unemployed man surnamed Zhou.
The Suzhou police statement said Hu spotted a knife attack at a bus stop in Suzhou at around 4pm on Monday and “immediately rushed to stop it, was stabbed several times by the suspect and sadly died after not being rescued”.
Hu’s courageous act “prevented more people from being hurt”, it said, an assessment echoed by witnesses quoted in the Xinhua report on Friday.
Xinhua also quoted the injured Japanese mother as saying Hu stopped the attacker and allowed her son to escape.
“Suzhou has taken and will continue to take effective measures to protect the safety of every person,” Xinhua quoted a Suzhou government official as saying.
Several hashtags related to Hu’s death were trending on Weibo social media on Friday morning.
“She protected the innocent children as well as the dignity of the Chinese people,” read one popular comment.
After Monday’s attack, some ultranationalist and anti-Japanese comments appeared on Weibo. The platform released an announcement on Wednesday night saying it had suspended 36 accounts for such comments.
“Some individual users have posted extreme remarks that incite national sentiments and promote group hatred, even calling for criminal acts in the name of patriotism,” Weibo said.
There are 12 Japanese schools in 10 cities in mainland China, including one in Beijing and two in Shanghai, according to the Japanese ministry of education. There are also two in Hong Kong.
The schools are approved by Chinese authorities to educate the children of Japanese citizens in China, including businesspeople and diplomats.
According to the latest data from the Japanese foreign ministry, there were 102,066 Japanese citizens – including 15,634 children – in China in October 2022, down 5.2 per cent from the previous year.
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Four US college instructors stabbed in a park in Jilin, China
Four US college instructors stabbed in a park in Jilin, China
On Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning expressed “regret” over the attack, but called it an “isolated incident”.
“China will take effective measures to protect foreigners in China, just as it protects its own citizens,” Mao said.
Monday’s attack was the second in China this month in which foreigners have been injured. In another, four teachers from Cornell College in the United States were stabbed in a park in China’s Jilin province.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian called it an “isolated incident”.
