For years, the mood in China has been darkening.
A weakening economy has left many disillusioned, a state of mind expressed privately and across the heavily controlled internet in lowered expectations and quiet anxiety.
Some of that may now be surfacing in more troubling ways.
In March, a man drove a heavy construction vehicle through an outdoor market in a Beijing suburb, reportedly killing several people. In June, a small aircraft crashed into a prominent office building in the capital, killing the pilot and injuring 13 others in what may have been a suicide. And last month a man was arrested in the southern city of Guangzhou after allegedly slashing the faces of multiple women in a busy shopping district.
Incidents like these are rare in China and heavily censored, making motives difficult, if not impossible, to discern. But in a country where it’s dangerous to vent at government policies, I can’t shake the sense that people are instead beginning to take their anger and frustration out on one another.
Intensely focused on competing with the United States, Beijing is pouring resources into building up its advanced manufacturing and technology industries, seeing them as the future drivers of national growth. During a summit meeting with President Trump at the White House last week, President Xi Jinping of China spoke confidently, saying China was “breaking new ground” in his modernization drive.
But much of the broader economy remains weak. Unemployment is high, especially for younger people, and wages are stagnating. Households still reeling from the long-term collapse of the country’s real estate market are cutting back on spending. The government this year set its lowest annual growth target since 1991.
The impulse to find someone to blame is clearly evident in the viral doxxing phenomenon called “ba,” or “to strip.” In these campaigns, which have intensified in recent months, posses of digital sleuths comb through the backgrounds of people who have attracted attention for their academic or professional achievements, “stripping” them down in a hunt for evidence that connections, fraud or favoritism paved their way.
