China’s online ultranationalists feel the heat over Japanese school bus attack comments

Chinese social media has seen a wave of extreme nationalism directed at Japan in recent years amid rising bilateral tensions

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Japan’s national flag flies at half-mast at the country’s embassy in Beijing on Friday in honour of Hu Youping. The Chinese woman was fatally injured in trying to save Japanese schoolchildren from a knife attack. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 5:00pm, 30 Jun 2024Updated: 6:59pm, 30 Jun 2024

China’s internet platforms are investigating extremist comments online over the fatal stabbing of a Chinese woman who tried to stop a knife attack on a Japanese school bus.

Hu Youping, 54, was stabbed multiple times while trying to restrain an attacker at a school bus stop in China’s eastern city of Suzhou on Monday. She died in hospital two days later.

The attacker first targeted a Japanese mother and her child waiting at the stop and then tried to get on the bus, which was carrying Japanese schoolchildren. Hu immediately rushed to help and her courageous act “prevented more people from being hurt”, Suzhou police said.

Hu Youping has been hailed for her bravery. Photo: peopleapp.com

Hu’s bravery was hailed by most of the public. The Japanese embassy in Beijing lowered its flag to half-mast on Friday morning in honour of Hu, and posted condolence messages on social media sites X and Weibo.

But other online posts still sought to defame Hu and stir up anti-Japanese sentiment.

There has been a wave of online Chinese ultranationalism directed at Japan in recent years amid rising tensions between the two countries, especially over Tokyo’s support for Taiwan and territorial disputes in the East China Sea.

Tech giant NetEase, which runs online gaming, social media and email services, said that some users had recently been exaggerating or even fabricating the truth, posting “inappropriate comments to incite nationalist sentiment”.