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SCMP Editorial

People who put their lives at risk to save others rightly inspire boundless admiration. This can turn to shared grief if such bravery ends in tragedy.
A case in point is the death of 54-year-old school bus employee Hu Youping, which has prompted an outpouring of sympathy on social media.
Hu died two days after she was stabbed multiple times trying to restrain an attacker at a school bus stop in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.
An unemployed man, 52, first attacked a mother and child waiting at the stop and then tried to get on the bus, which was carrying Japanese schoolchildren.

Suzhou police said Hu’s courageous act “prevented more people from being hurt”. The mother, also wounded, said Hu stopped the attack and enabled her son to escape.
The incident was isolated and has prompted inquiries into the motive.
A wave of public support for Hu’s family has included offers of donations, which they have declined, suggesting they go to “foundations around the country for courageous acts” and requesting privacy. Hu’s death brought people together in condolence and respect, typified by a video posting by Japanese ambassador Kenji Kanasugi on the embassy’s WeChat account, on behalf of the Japanese government and people.
Sadly, there has also been a flurry of ultranationalist and anti-Japanese comments on social media platforms that were quickly deleted. According to Weibo, which says it banned at least 36 accounts, some postings included extreme remarks that incited nationalistic sentiment and promoted group hatred.
Such extremism has to be a concern. Thankfully it seems the mainland authorities share it.

This comes just after China dropped a clause in new public security laws which would have punished the “hurting of national feelings” or “harm to the spirit of the nation”.
Shen Chunyao, deputy chairman of the NPC constitution and law committee, said such phrasing was subjective with potential for misinterpretation. “There is concern law enforcement may infringe upon the legitimate rights and normal life of the public,” he said.
It is good that officials listened to public worries that the provision was unclear and might fuel extreme nationalism.


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China society

Flow of sympathy as act of bravery ends in China tragedy

Japanese people pay tribute to Hu Youping, who tried to stop a knife attack on a school bus and died of multiple stab wounds in China’s eastern city of Suzhou. Photo: Weibo/ @野猫羔

Japan’s national flag is flown at half-staff at the official residence of the Japanese ambassador to China in Beijing to honour Hu Youping. Photo: Kyodo

A wave of public support for Hu’s family has included offers of donations, which they have declined, suggesting they go to “foundations around the country for courageous acts”. Photo: peopleapp.com

Chinese woman who tried to stop knife attack on Japanese mother and son dies from wounds

Chinese woman Hu Youping, aged 54, has died days after stepping in to prevent a knife attack. Suzhou police said “her courage and kindness represented the general Chinese public.” Photo: peopleapp.com

The Japanese embassy in Beijing lowered its flag to half-mast on Friday morning in honour of Chinese woman Hu Youping, who died days after trying to stop a knife attack against a Japanese mother and son. Photo: X/Japan_Emb_inCN

Police say the attacker on a Japanese school bus in Suzhou was a 52-year-old unemployed man surnamed Zhou. Photo: X/kounanronin

Chinese woman who died trying to stop attack on Japanese mother and child honoured for ‘selfless heroism’

Members of the public leave tributes to Hu Youping near the scene of the attack. Photo: Weibo/ 袁一陀

Hu Youping died two days after last week’s attack. Photo: CCTV

Outrage in Japan as ‘indoctrination’ blamed for stabbings of woman, child in China

The bus stop in Suzhou, near Shanghai, where a Japanese woman, her son and a Chinese woman were stabbed on Monday. Photo: Kyodo

Security officers stand guard in front of the Japanese embassy in Beijing on Tuesday, a day after a Japanese woman, her son and a Chinese woman were stabbed by a man at a school bus stop in Suzhou near Shanghai. Photo: Kyodo

The bus stop in Suzhou near Shanghai where a Japanese woman, her son and a Chinese woman were stabbed on Monday. Photo: Kyodo

A 1937 photo on display at the Museum of the War of Resistance Against Japan in Beijing, China, shows Imperial Army soldiers about to behead a Chinese man in Nanjing during their occupation of the city. Photo: AFP

Opinion

Hu Youping gave her life to protect a bus full of Japanese schoolchildren in Suzhou from a knife-wielding attacker


Hu Youping gave her life to protect a bus full of Japanese schoolchildren in Suzhou from a knife-wielding attacker.


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Crime

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Crime in China

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Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


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Editorial

Editorial | Flow of sympathy as act of bravery ends in China tragedy

Hu Youping gave her life to protect a bus full of Japanese schoolchildren in Suzhou from a knife-wielding attacker