On Wednesday afternoon, an eerie calm hung over the site where the incident had occurred. deadliest act of civil violence known in China for years. As traffic flowed freely in front of the now deserted Estadio Polideportivo de Zhuhaia Meituan courier dressed in yellow and black stopped on his motorcycle.
The driver opened his delivery box – usually used to transport food – and took out a bouquet of flowers. He placed them on a ledge, took a photo and left. Three minutes later, a man in civilian clothes appeared and removed them, as part of a constant process to erase the traces of the massacre, after 35 people were deliberately shot down by a motorist just a few days before.
A veil of silence around the attack – which had been lifted briefly – was descending again.
“They threw away all the flowers, I don’t understand it,” said a 23-year-old computer science student named Huang, who lives nearby and asked to be identified only by her last name. “We need to know more about the victims. “I hope you see them,” he added, starting to cry.
For the president Xi Jinpingthe recent wave of violent murders that culminated in Monday’s mass attack is calling into question the force field of state surveillance that was erected after a series of deadly terrorist attacks that shook China about a decade ago. Senior leaders, already fighting rising discontent over the economic recession of the countryare intensifying controls to stabilize society.
This effort to calm emotions in Zhuhai, a southern Chinese city near Hong Kong, risks making Communist Party officials appear callous. The victims remain anonymous and faceless to the public, and authorities have not yet revealed details beyond saying that the killer, 62 and surnamed Fan, was distraught over his divorce decree. No member of China’s elite seven-member Standing Committee has publicly visited the scene.
Provincial party chief Huang Kunming came closest to an open show of condolence, calling the incident “extremely shocking and sad” at a meeting to coordinate the investigation. Local officials said they plan to offer victims compensation and counseling, without giving a timetable, and visited a hospital where there are dozens of injured people.
The Zhuhai government did not respond to a faxed request for comment on whether officials would hold a news conference and on reports that public monuments were being removed.
“The sensible thing to do is to create a pressure valve that allows people to vent their grievances and anger, online or offline,” said Lynette Ong, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Toronto. “But this is not going to happen with Xi Jinping. From now on there will be very, very strict surveillance”.
Although the Chinese surveillance regime – with hundreds of millions of cameras and an army of Internet censors – is good at preventing mass protests, less effective at preventing individual actsOng said. This could prompt authorities to apply stricter measures, such as gun checks and random car inspectionswhich could stoke society’s anger and resentment, he added.
There are already signs that this is happening. After Xi urged officials across the country to redouble their efforts to prevent attacks, China’s Ministry of Public Security vowed Wednesday to tighten surveillance of society and increase patrols at public gathering places, in a statement. issued after an emergency meeting.
The Communist Party chiefs of Beijing and Guangdong also met on Xi’s instructions, and leaders in the southern province promised to strengthen security at sports facilities, schools and hospitals. Officials in the capital also promised to tighten controls in public places.
It was Monday night when the commotion began. Across town, China was preparing to unveil its latest stealth fighter at the Zhuhai Air Show the next day. Not even a brutal car accident that left dozens of bodies scattered derailed that effort, since the J-35Abuilt to compete with the US military, made headlines around the world on Tuesday.
Hours after that burst of national pride, state media reported the details of the tragedy, causing shock throughout the country. In Zhuhai, the word had already spread with videos and messages circulating on WeChat and the social networks Xiaohongshu and Weibo, until Chinese censors got to work.
Although messages with tribute candles were allowed on Weibo, on Wednesday the makeshift monuments that had sprung up in the area were being removedwatched by plainclothes police.
The carnage at a downtown stadium popular with middle-aged speed walkers was difficult to understand, according to local residents who asked not to be identified discussing a sensitive topic. Zhuhai is generally considered a relaxed city, a desirable place to retire for its leisurely lifestyle, beautiful port and good climate.
According to Hanzhang Liu, an associate professor of political studies at Pitzer College in California, several high-profile stabbings, including an attack at a Shanghai supermarket and the murder of a Japanese schoolboy, have “eroded sense of public safety”.
“It also conveys a sense of pent-up anger and grievances,” he added, noting that it was potentially “harmful and threatening to the governmentsince that latent energy has the potential to move”.
Chinese authorities have generally refused to comment on the motives for recent attacks, only rarely revealing details such as that the attacker was unemployed. The year-long real estate slump has depressed the country’s labor market, something that authorities are urgently trying to reverse with a stimulus plan aimed at shoring up its faltering economy.
On a corner, next to the stadium, several elderly people sat around tables on Wednesday, playing cards or traditional board games, smoking and laughing. Nearby shops were open but without customers. At one of the entrances to the square, people continued placing bouquets of flowers.
A couple carrying a small bouquet of pink carnations – which they said symbolized motherhood – choked as they described how they felt.
The couple, both web developers, often go to the park to walk and exercise. The husband, who only gave his last name, Li, said he was having a hard time coming to terms with what happened.
“It’s my city. It’s hard to believe this happens. “This is a gathering place for the community,” he said. “The feeling of peace has been broken”.
