It's very saddening to hear that just one day after the festive beginning of the Olympics, two fellow Americans were attacked in Beijing on the Drum Tower. The crime was shocking to me, not only because it was committed, but also because it was committed by a Hangzhou person, a people whom I regarded highly since being based in Hangzhou for the past year. Despite the shock and sadness, it does bring some slight comfort to know that local Chinese people and the government are also saddened/angered that this happened, and that the crime appears to be random.

A lot of Chinese websites spreading the news of this has been blocked in China already, but surprisingly some are still open. I finally managed to get a version of the story from a Chinese wikipedia looking website, called 18dao.cn 

It looks like the Hangzhou man was a 47 year old manual worker, divorced twice, with a problem 21 year old son. He went to Beijing to tell his son not to cause any trouble and as it turns out, he didn't take his own advice.

Best wishes and condolences to the Bachman's and McCutcheon's... It's very saddening that this has to happen to anyone, and especially so when you visit another country out of good-will as tourists, to have it happen to you by the host's countrymen.

UPDATE:

After discussing this topic further with local Chinese friends... Read on...

... I was informed that the major news agencies in China did indeed cover this topic, but very brief and with few details, and the coverage was not repeated again. The blocking of this topic on other sites, such as blogs and forums, is meant to minimize further gossip/speculation on the nature of the attack. 

Apparently, there's another version to this attacker's background. That he had been unemployed for quite some time and had been trying to get the attention of the local city government for some issues. When that didn't work, he apparently went to Beijing during the Olympics to take up this issue, and again met with indifference. Finally, he decided to go all out and targetted any foreigner during the Olympics.

All this information is now getting to be messier and messier. What's done is done, no more can be said to make what happened any better. But I am glad to know that at the very least China's major news agencies did indeed report this news and that it is available still online on the major news sites, despite the brief coverage, to show that the country isn't out to completely cover this up from its people.

Update:

The McClatchy Washington Bureau seems to have a balanced report of this event with more background and foreground information, if anyone is interested.

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