Sociologists believe that recent Chinese school knife attacks that have left 17 dead and scores wounded reflect the tragic consequences of ignoring mental illness and rising stress resulting from huge social inequalities in China's fast-changing society.
"The perpetrators have contracted a 'social psychological infectious disease' that shows itself in a desire to take revenge on society," said Zhou Xiaozheng of Beijing's Renmin University.
"They pick children as targets because they are the weakest and most vulnerable," Zhou said. The recent attacks are classic "copycat crimes," the effects of which may be amplified by media coverage, Zhou said.
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On Wednesday, a disgruntled landlord armed with a meat cleaver hacked to death seven young children, all under the age of five, and two adults at a kindergarten in Shaanxi province, state press reports said.
Eleven other children were injured, two seriously.
"We've never seen anything like this before, never," said Zhao Fangling, a doctor overseeing care for six of the most seriously wounded survivors at the 3201 Hospital in Hanzhong.
Another hospital official, Cui Xiangbin, said the killer was known to the children.
"The children all knew him, they saw him every day. I can't describe how it made me feel when I heard about the scene, I felt terrified and my heart went cold," Cui said.
The incident, which ended with the assailant's suicide, was the fifth attack on children in less than two months and comes despite a push to boost security in and around schools across the country.
Local villager Wu Huanming, 48, used a kitchen cleaver to carry out the killings in the city of Hanzhong, Xinhua news agency quoted the Shaanxi provincial emergency office as saying.
China's top policeman vowed to "severely strike" at anyone caught attacking schools, in an angry diatribe following a kindergarten bloodbath -- the fifth such assault in just a few weeks.
In a speech following Wednesday's attack in northern China that left nine people dead, including seven children, Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu urged police at all levels to ensure schools are protected.
"We must strike at the criminals so that they don't dare lay their hands on the children," Meng said in a speech posted on his ministry's website.
"We must thoroughly adhere to our strike hard policy, severely strike at all illegal criminal acts aimed at violating or harming the lives and property of teachers, students and children."
The Hanzhong city government vowed to "leave no stone unturned, learn from the mistakes, and strictly ensure nothing happens like this again".
The city government said about 2,000 police officers and security guards had been assigned to patrol public schools, kindergartens and surrounding areas beginning last week.
