China executes man for car rampage that killed dozens

China has executed a man convicted of driving a vehicle into a crowd, injuring at least 35 people last November, in what is considered the country's deadliest attack in a decade. Fan Weiqiu, 62, drove into people exercising outside a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai, also causing dozens of injuries.

According to state media, another man was executed for a separate attack that occurred days later. Xu Jiajin, 21, carried out a knife attack at a university in the eastern city of Wuxi, resulting in eight deaths. Authorities stated that Fan Weiqiu's motive was "dissatisfaction with the division of property after his divorce," while Xu Jiajin launched his attack because he "failed to obtain a graduation certificate due to poor exam results."

Fan Weiqiu was detained at the scene on November 11, with police saying he had self-inflicted wounds at the time. He was convicted of "endangering public safety" last December, with the Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court calling his motives "extremely vile" and his methods "particularly cruel." He was executed this Monday, less than a month after being sentenced to death.

In Xu Jiajin's case, police said he "unhesitatingly" confessed to his crimes on November 16. He was sentenced to death on December 17, with the court deeming his crime "particularly egregious" and "extremely serious." Human rights organizations believe that China executes more people than any other country in the world, with thousands of executions each year. Reliable figures are unavailable as China does not publish detailed information on executions.

China has been struggling to address a series of public violence incidents, with many attackers believed to be acting out of "revenge against society"—targeting strangers due to personal grievances. There have been 19 such attacks across China in 2024. In the days following the attacks in Zhuhai and Wuxi, a man drove into a crowd outside an elementary school in Changde, injuring 30 people. Authorities said the man, Huang Wen, wanted to vent his anger due to investment losses and family conflicts.

Huang Wen was given a suspended death sentence last month, which could be commuted to life imprisonment if he does not reoffend within the next two years. Analysts previously told the BBC that the spate of mass killings has raised questions about how people in China are coping with various sources of stress, such as the country's economic downturn. "Tensions seem to be rising, and it doesn't look like there's any relief in sight," said George Magnus, an economist at the University of Oxford China Centre.