What is driving some Chinese to wreak vengeance on society?

A shocking spate of "revenge on society" attacks is calling attention to the increasing socio-economic pressures that the Chinese face and the problem of social inequality.

- Tan Dawn Wei

In just over a week, three people have gone on mass murder sprees that have left 43 people dead and more than 60 people wounded.

The word liqi — violent rage with a malicious, ruthless edge — keeps coming up in everyday conversations and online.

Liqi is on the rise in Chinese society, people lament. The young and old alike are fighting on high-speed trains and subways over seats, men get into fisticuffs over parking spaces, and now innocent children and pensioners are being mowed down while going to school or exercising.

In the most recent incident, on Nov 19, a man drove into a crowd of parents and children on their way to school in Hunan's Changde city. While his motive has yet to be established, the police have attributed the other two attacks to personal grievances.

In southern coastal Zhuhai, a 62-year-old man who rammed his sport utility vehicle into hundreds of people exercising at a sports centre on Nov 11 was said to be upset over the court's division of matrimonial assets after his divorce.

And in the eastern city of Wuxi, a 21-year-old former vocational student who failed his exams and could not graduate went on a stabbing spree at his school on Nov 16, killing eight and injuring 17.

The police also said he was unhappy with his internship salary and decided to take it out on others.

There have been at least six other cases in 2024, including a mass stabbing in a Shanghai supermarket in September that killed three, and a massacre in a Shandong village in February that left at least 21 dead.

Why did these perpetrators decide to take their grievances out on innocent bystanders, in what the Chinese have termed "revenge on society" attacks?