Tragedy struck the city of Beijing, China on Wednesday, January 4^th at a local kindergarten when a man entered the school and used a kitchen knife to brutally stab 12 children, seriously injuring 5 of them. He did this by entering the school while the children were eating in their classroom, under the claim that he was picking up his child. The man, Qin Peng’an, has allegedly felt bullied by the people in his village, so he stabbed the children out of spite and revenge.

When he entered the room and started attacking the children, the reports say that the police were called and two teachers tried to fight back with the use of plastic chairs. Luckily, the police arrived quickly and were able to detain him. Out of the 12 children that were stabbed, 5 were seriously injured; luckily, none of the children have life-threatening injuries and all should heal very well.

Unfortunately for China in recent years, the number of stabbings in schools because of vendettas against society has dramatically risen. This includes one case in 2012 when a man stabbed 22 students and one adult as they were arriving at their primary school for classes. Another case occurred in 2010, where nearly 20 died and more than 50 were injured. One report by the New York Times states that “most of the attackers have been mentally disturbed men involved in personal disputes or unable to adjust to the rapid pace of social change in China, underscoring grave weakness in the antiquated Chinese medical system’s ability to diagnose and treat psychiatric illness.”

The saddest part of these many cases is how easily avoidable this is. There are many steps a school can take to ensure the safety of their students, such as posting security guards around the school, or ensuring that any adult who enters the building has clearance or a child enrolled in the school. I hope that in the years to come, China learns from these tragedies and takes some steps to ensure that it does not happen again.