China and Japan on Friday paid tribute to a school bus attendant in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou who died from stab wounds after defending a Japanese mother and child in a June 24 knife attack, while government censors deleted hundreds of anti-Japanese posts from social media platforms.
"Hu Youping, a resident of the Chinese city of Suzhou who lost her life after attempting to stop a knife attack that injured two Japanese nationals, will be honored for her heroic deeds," state news agency Xinhua cited local authorities as saying.
The focus on Hu’s heroic actions came as the authorities sought to defuse anti-Japanese sentiment on Chinese social media platforms, and as Japan warned its citizens living in China to take additional precautions to guard against similar attacks.
Hu was "seriously injured" in the attack that occurred at around 4 p.m. on Monday at a bus stop in the Suzhou New District in Jiangsu Province, and died in hospital on Wednesday, the Xinhua report said.
Hu was stabbed as she tried to restrain the attacker, allowing the Japanese woman's son to escape. The attacker then turned to Hu, stabbing her before being subdued by passers-by and police, according to the agency.
"If she hadn't tried to hold back the assailant, there could have been more victims," it quoted an eyewitness as saying.
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The Japanese Embassy in China released a short video clip of its flag lowering to half-mast in Hu's honor on its official Weibo account at about 10:00 a.m. on Friday, with the hashtagging the post "The woman who bravely rescued the Japanese mother and child dies."
"We are deeply saddened to hear that Ms. Hu Youping passed away after attempts to resuscitate her failed," the post said. "Ms. Hu single-handedly protected an innocent woman and child from a criminal."
"We believe that her courage and kindness are representative of the vast majority of Chinese people. May she rest in peace."
Shizuoka University professor Yang Haiying said the gesture showed how seriously Japan took the attack, and Hu's actions.
"It shows that Japan is very concerned about this," Yang said. "Lowering the flag to half-mast is a huge deal, and the Japanese Embassy did a good job by talking about this from a humanitarian perspective."
Authorities in Suzhou will confer the title of “Role Model of Righteousness and Courage” upon Hu Youping posthumously, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news conference in Beijing on Friday.
"We extend deep condolences over her passing and our thoughts are with her family," Mao said, calling Hu a "shining example of the kindheartedness, bravery and everyday heroism in Chinese people, who would not hesitate to stand in harm’s way to help others."
Suzhou's police department and the city's Bravery Foundation jointly nominated Hu for the award, in recognition of her heroism in tackling the assailant.
"She was really brave, because there were a lot of other people around, and it was around the time when school was getting out, and those people could have been in danger," a woman who answered the phone at a number given on the joint announcement told RFA Mandarin on Friday.
The woman, who gave only the surname Chen, said Hu's family would likely be in line for "rewards or a pension" in honor of her actions, but that the details would need to be hammered out by a review committee.
Offsetting applause for attack
Veteran U.S.-based political commentator Hu Ping said the honoring of Hu was likely an attempt to stem the tide of anti-Japanese sentiment on Chinese social media platforms.
"The government thought it necessary to honor her in order to offset the effects of the applause for the stabbing attack on Japanese people," Hu said. "That is the intention behind it."
While some social media users praised Hu as an "upstanding Chinese citizen" and "a hero of the common people," government censors were also scrambling to remove anti-Japanese comments from social media platforms in the wake of Monday's attack, state media reported.
Sina Weibo punished 36 accounts and removed 759 posts that "spread extreme speech that incites nationalistic sentiment, promoted group hatred, and even applauded criminal acts in the name of patriotism," the Global Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The company called on users "not to overly interpret isolated incidents, nor to promote violence and glorify crime in the name of patriotism," the report said.
Chinese police have detained a 52-year-old man surnamed Zhou in connection with the attack.
Two Japanese nationals were also injured in the attack. One is receiving hospital treatment but is not in a life-threatening condition, and the other was discharged following treatment on the day of the attack, according to the Global Times.
The Global Times said in an op-ed article published Friday that China "is undoubtedly still one of the safest countries in the world," citing low reported homicide rates and one of the lowest incidences of firearm-related crime anywhere in the world.
"The country is continuously moving toward social stability and the safety of its people, and foreign nationals in China will also enjoy a more legal and secure living environment," it said.
Mao also told reporters in Beijing that China will continue to "take effective measures" to protect foreign nationals in China.
Monday’s attack was the latest in a string of knife attacks in China.
Earlier this month, four American teachers were stabbed in a park in the northeastern city of Jilin. Last month, a knife attack at a hospital in Yunnan province left two people dead and 21 people injured.
The Japanese Embassy in Beijing warned Japanese nationals living in China to take precautions against stabbing incidents while in public places including schools and parks, the Associated Press reported.
Japanese schools in China had also requested extra security in the wake of Monday's stabbings, Japanese media outlet NHK said.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie.