Qu Weiguo, a Fudan University professor, said the recent cases of “indiscriminate revenge against society” in China had some common features: Disadvantaged suspects, many with mental health issues, who believed that they had been treated unfairly and who felt they had no other way to be heard.
“It is important to establish a social safety net and a psychological counselling mechanism, but in order to minimise such cases, the most effective way is to open public channels that can monitor and expose the use of power,” Qu posted on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
The short essay had been removed by the censors by Sunday afternoon.
Wuxi Vocational College offers courses to prepare students to work in industries including wire and cable manufacturing, interior design, marketing and other fields, its website says.
The junior college and others like it are part of a drive to direct more young people into job-specific training instead of oversubscribed universities as youth unemployment balloons.
Trending online discussion topics over the past year have put a focus on the diminished optimism in China about a turnaround for jobs, income and opportunity. One of those – “the garbage time of history” – took off in the summer as a shorthand for economic despair.
In recent weeks, Chinese officials have rolled out a raft of stimulus measures to revive the economy. Monday’s car attack also prompted an intervention by President Xi Jinping, who urged local police to “strengthen their control of risks” by identifying people at risk of lashing out.
