China executed two men who killed two people within a week in November last year.
Fan Weiqiu, 62, killed at least 35 people and injured dozens more behind him he drove his car to people who were exercising outside a stadium in Zhuhai, in what is believed to be the deadliest attack on Chinese soil for a decade.
Days later, Xu Jiajin, 21, killed eight people and injured 17 others. stabbing at his university in the eastern city of Wuxi.
Authorities say Fan was motivated by “dissatisfaction” with the way his property was divided following his divorce, while Xu attacked after “not receiving his diplomas due to poor exam results”.
A fan was arrested at the scene on November 11, where he was found unresponsive.
In December, he was found guilty of “endangering public safety”, the court described his intention as “extremely evil” and the “methods” used as “particularly brutal”.
His execution on Monday took place less than a month after the court sentenced him to death.
In Xu’s case, police said he confessed to his crime without hesitation on November 16. He was sentenced to death on 17 December, with the court hearing that the circumstances of his case were “extremely bad” and “extremely bad”.
China has been experiencing a spate of communal violence recently, with many of the attackers believed to be motivated by ambition. “revenge on society” – when perpetrators target strangers for their grievances.
The number of such attacks across China has reached 19 by 2024.
A few days after the Zhuhai and Wuxi attacks, a man rammed into a crowd of children and parents outside a primary school in the city of Changde, injuring 30 of them.
Authorities said the man, Huang Wen, wanted to vent his anger after facing financial losses and family disputes.
Huang was there he imposed a suspended death sentence last month – could be commuted to life imprisonment if he does not commit another offense in the next two years.
Analysts previously told the BBC that the series of mass killings raised questions about how the Chinese people were coping with various sources of stress, such as the country’s sluggish economy.
Some of them pointed out that the outlets for venting their frustrations have also decreased, or been closed down altogether, over the years – resulting in people being hard pressed to find ways to deal with their feelings.
Taken together, these factors suggest that the lid is tightening on Chinese society, creating a pressure cooker-like situation.
“Tensions seem to be escalating, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to ease any time soon,” said George Magnus, an economist at Oxford University’s China Center.
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