Surveillance footage has just surfaced of the knife attack in Guangshan county on December 14 that injured 23 22 children (plus one adult).

Min Yongjun, said to have been affected by doomsday rumors, burst into a Chenpeng village elementary school on Friday and began indiscriminately hacking and slashing with his kitchen knife. He also stabbed an elderly woman. All of the victims survived.

Six local officials were fired, but let’s give praise where it’s due: in the footage, we clearly see adults chase after the man after they find out what’s happening. The sight of a middle-aged man in cloth shoes wielding what appears to be a big broom might look comical, but it was effective: the knifeman was chased out of the school and eventually neutralized. We’ve seen it before, but perhaps we don’t put enough emphasis on this: confronted with bad guys, people here do react, as you would expect. Also see the case from earlier this year of unarmed security guards who sacrificed themselves to ward off a knife-wielding madman in Guizhou Normal University.

The Guangshan attack happened on the same day as the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 26 people, including 20 children. Comparing the incidents, many were critical of the US’s lack of gun-control laws, though people in China were quick to point out their government’s shortcomings as well.

It seemed very few netizens were happy with China’s response to Friday’s slashing at a Guangshan county primary school that injured 23 children, but now we know exactly how officials feel about it: everyone involved, basically, has been fired.

Via Morning Whistle:

Six local officials who are responsible for the attack has been removed on Monday, including principals of the school, a police chief and officials who are in charge of education and safety inspection.

And while President Barack Obama publicly praised teachers and first-responders in Newtown, Connecticut, where a gunman massacred 27 people, mostly children, on the same day as the Guangshan attack, those in China are wondering where their adults were to protect their children:

School security videos showed that no teachers or doorkeepers were on the scene in the first few minutes when the suspect stabbed people, the official People’s Daily reported on Tuesday.

According to school rules, teachers should arrive at the school before 7:50 a.m., while the attack occurred at around 7:30 on Friday. A time sheet showed that class advisors and teachers who were on duty that day arrived at the school after the attack, the paper said.

So, those in charge have been punished. But we wonder: what reason do we have to believe that the next crop would have behaved differently, or will be any better?

UPDATE, 12/19, 9:46 pm: Security footage of the attack shows adults rushing to help as soon as they could.

(H/T Ray Kwong)

The attacks happened on opposite sides of the globe, but they’re still being viewed relative to one another. The conversation was initially about weapons, with the US getting called to task. (Some are still unhappy that President Barack Obama only alluded to gun control without saying it outright in his moving speech yesterday in Newtown, Connecticut.) But in China, the talk is about something else altogether: how US officials have handled their tragedy, contrasted against how Chinese officials have handled theirs. On this front, no one is happy, not even Xinhua.

Reports Wall Street Journal:

The newspaper appears to have been motivated by the account of a journalist from the state-run Xinhua news agency, posted to Sina Weibo on Saturday, that described education officials in Guangshan playing video games shortly after the attack. The account also said one local leader responded to the journalist’s question about the attacker’s mental health by asking what the point was of discussing the topic.

A Guangshan official said that local leaders were out inspecting schools, which is why they were unavailable to take questions. But something tells me government mouthpieces have the credibility of lapdogs around these parts.

WSJ again:

“The U.S. and China both have school tragedies — but how do they handle it? And how do we handle it? Everyone understands this point, there’s no need for me to even spell it out,” one Weibo user wrote in response to the Xinhua journalists’ post.

“When there’s a problem, China doesn’t dare face it and doesn’t want to think about it, but instead tries to figure out a way to dodge it and block information. It leaves people feeling cold,” wrote another microblogger.

A third said he hoped the children in the Henan attack “won’t end up being Chinese again when they reincarnate.”

Tea Leaf Nation has translated more netizens responses, which provide a picture of incredible cynicism:

Some commenters perceived an implicit, high-level calculation of the relative value of an American and Chinese child. @3颗豆 ventured a guess at the media’s strategy: ”It seems they are trying to say: Look, look! This is the price of freedom. I say: Look how little I must be worth.” @党好啊 looked at the relative wealth of the two schools, writing, “The American school may have a future U.S. President in it; that school in Guangshan probably doesn’t even have a county boss.” Indeed, @无为之路通罗马 echoed a widely-held sentiment, writing that the disparate treatment occurred “because the high leaders’ sons and daughters are all in the United States.”

Of course, it’s unfair to compare these governments. Surely China — much less practiced in displaying public empathy — will learn from this experience. In the meantime, netizens here, inundated with local coverage of the American tragedy, continue looking abroad for their model in life and governance.

@黄天立123‘s comment looked both outward and inward, speaking to grieving American parents while also giving voice to disaffected Chinese: “Your pain is now carved on everyone’s hearts. I wish the children happiness in heaven. As to our [attacked] children–as of today, officials have not even given their names. For [the sake of] Chinese children, I hope heaven is not ‘socialist with Chinese characteristics.’”

Shitty people are everywhere. Not much more to say for now.

• Gunman kills 20
• Knifeman injures 22 (one child and one 85-year-old woman are in serious condition)

UPDATE, 12/19, 10:08 am: Continuing coverage:

• In China, Obama’s Address On The Newtown Shooting Has Already Been Viewed Nearly 1 Million Times

• Newtown And Guangshan: No One Is Happy With Their Government’s Response

• Response To China’s School Attack: Everyone Has Been Fired [UPDATE]

• Footage Shows Adults Chasing Away Primary-School Attacker Who Slashed 23 Children In Guangshan