A Brief History
On December 14, 2012, in Chenpeng Village of Henan Province, Chinese citizen Min Yongjun stabbed an 85-years-old lady in her own home with her own knife and then took the knife to the primary school next door and began stabbing children aged 6 to 11.
Digging Deeper
Apparently China’s emergence as a world economic and industrial power has caused changes in society that have unsettled many of its citizens, and for the past few years, there have been several such attacks on school children as a result. In them meantime, security guards are posted at all Chinese schools.
Although none of the children died of their wounds, 22 of them were stabbed or slashed, with some of them losing fingers, ears or even their nose. The crazed man was soon overpowered and taken into custody. It seems that Yongjun was obsessed with the Mayan Doomsday Prophecy, according to which 2012 would see the end of the world. He also suffered from seizures and was said, not surprisingly, to be mentally unstable.
The Chinese government tried to keep the story out of the media, but failed, as local police had already released a video that spread throughout the world. The government did acknowledge, though, that a better system of detecting and treating mental illness had to be developed in China. (No kidding, how about in the U.S. as well?)
Coincidentally, on this same day, a shocking school shooting also took place in the United States at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which the shooter, his mother, 20 students and 6 adult school employees died. It appears such events occur regardless of what system of government is in power and regardless if the economy is booming or sputtering. Crazy, homicidal people are in every society, and the best prevention is to identify those who need help and to get them the necessary mental health care. Another issue up for debate is whether or not at least some of the teachers or administrators in schools should be armed (trained as well) in case the unthinkable happens. Question for students (and subscribers): What do you think? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Fox, Cybelle, Katherine S. Newman, et al. Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings. Basic Books, 2005.
