A man who killed 35 people by driving his car into a crowd exercising outside a stadium in southern China has been sentenced to death.
The court in Zhuhai accused Fan Weiqiu of “endangering public safety” and described his actions as “extremely vile” and his methods “particularly cruel.” The attack on 11 November is considered the deadliest in China in a decade.
Fan, 62, targeted people on a running track, driving at high speed because he was “dissatisfied” with how his property was divided after his divorce, the court revealed. Witnesses reported that he drove “in a loop,” leaving victims injured across the track, a popular area for exercise.
After sustaining self-inflicted knife wounds, Fan was initially reported to be in a coma but later admitted his guilt before victims’ families and members of the public, according to Chinese media.
This attack is part of a troubling rise in random acts of violence across China. The Zhuhai incident was one of 19 attacks targeting strangers in 2024, resulting in at least 63 deaths and 166 injuries—a stark increase compared to 16 deaths and 40 injuries in 2023.
Not all incidents involved vehicles. For instance, a mass stabbing and firearms attack in Shandong in February left 21 dead, though this was heavily censored by authorities. Experts have linked the surge in such violence to growing frustration and anger amid economic slowdowns and increasing uncertainty about the future.
“These are symptoms of a society with a lot of pent-up grievances,” said Lynette Ong, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Toronto, in comments to AFP in November.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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