ReutersIn November, China executed a man convicted of killing at least 35 people in a car attack, believed to be the country’s deadliest in a decade.
Fan Weiqiu, 62, crashed his car into people exercising outside a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai, injuring dozens more.
State media said a second man was executed in a separate attack a few days later. Xu Jiajin, 21, went on a stabbing spree at a university in the eastern city of Wuxi, killing eight people.
Authorities said that Fan was motivated by “dissatisfaction” with the division of assets after the divorce, and that Xu assaulted him because he “failed to obtain a diploma due to poor exam results.” did.
Phan was taken into custody at the scene on November 11, and police said he was found suffering from self-inflicted injuries.
In December, he was found guilty of “endangering public safety”, with the Zhuhai Intermediate People’s Court calling his motives “extremely despicable” and the methods used “particularly cruel”.
His execution on Monday comes less than a month after a court sentenced him to death.
In Xu’s case, police said on November 16 that he confessed to the crime “without hesitation.” He was sentenced to death on December 17, with the court ruling that the circumstances of his crime were “particularly egregious” and “extremely serious”.
Human rights groups believe China is one of the world’s leading executioners, killing thousands of people each year. Reliable figures are not available as the country does not publish details about its use of the death penalty.
China is grappling with a spate of public violence, with many of the attackers believed to have been motivated by a desire to “take revenge on society” and targeted strangers over personal grievances.
In 2024, the number of such attacks reached 19 across China.
Within days of the attacks in Zhuhai and Wuxi, a man plowed his car into a crowd of children and parents outside an elementary school in Changde, injuring 30 people.
Authorities said the man wanted to vent his anger after dealing with investment losses and family discord.
Mr. Hwang was given a suspended death sentence last month, which could be commuted to life imprisonment if he does not commit any new crimes within the next two years.
Analysts earlier told the BBC that the series of mass killings raised questions about how Chinese people were coping with various sources of stress, including the country’s economic downturn.
“Tensions do seem to be rising and there doesn’t seem to be any prospect of easing in the near future,” said George Magnus, an economist at Oxford University’s China Center.
