On the eve of the national celebration, a man launched a stabbing attack in a shopping
centre the Songjiang district of Shanghai, killing three and injuring at least 15. According to initial
reports, the man had been involved in a financial dispute and was not likely driven by a specific
ideology.
Seemingly “random” stabbing attacks have increased over the past year in China – some involving the
targeting of foreigners. Chinese authorities have likely sought to underplay these events, with little
information, beyond descriptions of attackers being affected by “mental health issues”, being briefed
to local and international media. There is a realistic possibility that the growing trend of mass stabbing
attacks follows a dynamic comparable to that of “Mudjima” (“don’t ask why”) stabbings in South Korea.
Both countries’ cases often occur in highly trafficked areas – including shopping malls and markets –
and are seemingly committed by ideologically “unaligned” individuals. Perpetrators, instead, are often
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reported as dealing with financial issues or declare themselves as feeling “resentful” and portray their
actions as a way to attack society as a whole. These attacks, moreover, are dissimilar from the “lone
wolf” attacks that take place in the West, in that they do not focus heavily on obtaining high visibility
– instead maximising the number of casualties – and lack many of the distinctive elements of lone wolf
terrorism, such as perpetrators sharing “manifestos” or other media to explain and broadcast their actions and beliefs