Foreigner Killed at Qianmen: The Web Reacts

Yesterday’s stabbing near Qianmen that resulted in the death of an American man has been making the news across the city and is garnering plenty of reaction on the web. Netizens have a lot to say about the latest incident in a summer of violent incidents between both Chinese and foreigners.

Few details has been released about the attack, but what is known at this time is that the victim was 62-year-old American Howard Thomas Mills, who arrived in Beijing on July 3. A suspect, apprehended shortly after the attack, has been identified as An Libo, a Heilongjiang native who arrived in the city that morning. An had previously attacked and robbed people at knifepoint in Shanghai and is assumed to suffer from a mental disorder.

The Beijing police first posted any mention of the incident yesterday at 5pm after An was in custody but didn’t release any other details. Some news postings that went up on Weibo following the attack were taken down shortly afterwards, possibly in a move to control the reaction.

This summer has already seen a number of violent incidents that have involved both Chinese and foreigners and the city is currently overseeing a 100-day crackdown on illegal aliens, a move that some have blamed for inflaming tensions between locals and expats.

Weibo reactions to the Qianmen attack have been relatively mild – though it's possible that stronger opinions have been censored. There have been the standard condolences for the man ("Poor American, RIP"), and some questioning about the Chinese legal system that released the attacker when he had been caught in Shanghai. ("So the guy came all the way to BJ to kill a laowai, why did nobody stop him the first two times in SH?")

Meanwhile, media coverage has been fairly straightforward. Some outlets have made the case that this is an ongoing issue but reference several isolated incidents over several years. Beijing Cream, which reported on this yesterday, pointed out that reports of murders are not common. Outside of an AP wire report, major US outlets have not seen fit to cover the killing, but Bloomberg has mentioned a cryptic sentence from an embassy official that "The US is aware of media coverage ... and cannot release any information because of privacy laws."

Photo: Drben.net

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Calm/ level headed people??? .... Have you ever taked a subway here? I suggest you try....

Completely agree, that's censored media for ya.

geedo wrote:
It doesn't change my opinion of Chinese individuals, but it does about the media. I mean, British guy rapes Chinese girl - HEADLINE NEWS. Justified
Russian man kicks chair - HEADLINE NEWS... Not quite so justified.
American man murdered on one of the most famous sites of China's capital city - Slips under the radar.
A little one sided no?
This SHOULD be headline news, the fact that it isn't is quite worrying...
PetePete wrote:
I feel sorry for the man but this is an isolated incident. Its a fact of human nature that out of a 20 million you will have a crazy guy and the victim be a foreigner.

This in no way changes my opinion of Chinese people, whom I believe to be very well reserved and calm/level headed people. It is sad such a thing happened just as i was shocked and saddened by both the USC killings.

But Joey we aren't living anywhere near USC and only a class A idiot is able to sum up the population of any country as "very well reserved and calm/level headed people".

Now, pop over to Google and without adding a country or location search for kindergarten attack to see how well reserved calm and level headed your results are.

"It's dangerous to ignore the pain of people." - what a true and powerful sentence!

I have never seen any counseling or support groups advertised here. People here are very alone.

When traumatic events happen there is no help for anyone as far as I can see. When I was in hospital when I had my son the woman in the bed next to me went into labour at 24 weeks and had a stillbirth. Se was devastated but nobody helped her or comforted her and she was just sent home. To me that was just unbelievable. It's dangerous to ignore the pain of people.

lol why just the english teaching schools?! there's 外国垃圾 everywhere.

This incident says little about Chinese-Foreign relations but says a ton about the way mental illness is treated in China.

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It doesn't change my opinion of Chinese individuals, but it does about the media. I mean, British guy rapes Chinese girl - HEADLINE NEWS. Justified
Russian man kicks chair - HEADLINE NEWS... Not quite so justified.
American man murdered on one of the most famous sites of China's capital city - Slips under the radar.
A little one sided no?
This SHOULD be headline news, the fact that it isn't is quite worrying...

I feel sorry for the man but this is an isolated incident. Its a fact of human nature that out of a 20 million you will have a crazy guy and the victim be a foreigner.

This in no way changes my opinion of Chinese people, whom I believe to be very well reserved and calm/level headed people. It is sad such a thing happened just as i was shocked and saddened by both the USC killings.

I do still support the 100 day crack down, but I suggest they go after the "english teaching" schools which employ 外国垃圾 instead of incriminating all foreigners whom may be working or doing volunteer work.