China | An attack and a crackdown

China takes a step to curb anti-Japanese rhetoric online

The government cultivates extreme nationalism on the web. But it wants it to stay there

Illustration of a number of speech bubbles, in the centre there's a speech bubble with the japanese flag with a cross through, surriounding it are lots of Chinese flag speech bubbles
Illustration: Chloe Cushman

It was an isolated incident, the government insists. On June 24th a Chinese man attacked a Japanese woman and her child at a bus stop outside a Japanese school in the city of Suzhou. A Chinese school-bus attendant, Hu Youping, tried to shield the pair, only to be stabbed herself. She died days later. The local administration has called Ms Hu a “righteous and courageous” role model.

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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “An attack and a crackdown”

From the July 6th 2024 edition

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