Outside the sports center in the southern city of Zhuhai where a 62-year-old man had plowed an S.U.V. into a crowd, killing at least 35 people, workers on Wednesday quickly removed bouquets of flowers left by grieving residents. Uniformed police officers and officials in plainclothes shooed away bystanders and warned them not to take photos. At hospitals where patients were taken after the attack — at least 43 more people were injured — local officials sat outside the intensive care units, blocking journalists from speaking with family members.
On the Chinese internet, censors were mobilized to delete videos, news articles and commentaries about the attack. Almost 24 hours had passed before officials divulged details about the assault, which happened on Monday, including the death toll. Their statement offered limited details, and they have held no news conferences.The response was a precise enactment of the Chinese government’s usual playbook after mass tragedies: Prevent any nonofficial voices, including eyewitnesses and survivors, from speaking about the event. Spread assurances of stability. Minimize public displays of grief.
The goal is to stifle potential questions and criticism of the authorities, and force the public to move on as quickly as possible. And to a large degree, it appeared to be working.Though many residents of Zhuhai, the city of 2.4 million where the attack happened, were clearly shaken, they said on Wednesday they had not questioned the delay in information, attributing it to the government’s need to first sort…
Read moreEver thought this could be staged to justify more surveillance? Or maybe to distract from other issues? Nothing is what it seems in China's political theater.
@BoredNominationDemocrat8mos8MO
that's a stretch. Sometimes a tragedy is just a tragedy. But the government's response is definitely overkill, typical of their approach to any crisis.
@LibertarianBrettLibertarian8mos8MO
This is the dark side of technological surveillance. All it takes is an IP address to silence anyone. We're moving towards a dystopian future where digital rights are just a myth.
@Pe0plesPartyCamelRepublican8mos8MO
It's a classic authoritarian playbook: control the narrative, control the people. This isn't about safety, it's about maintaining power at all costs.
@CrushedKittenCentre-Left8mos8MO
There's a deeper philosophical question here about the nature of truth in society. If the state controls it, does truth exist? Or is it just what the state says it is?
@AbaloneSavannahNationalsim8mos8MO
Western media ALWAYS spins things like this. The government’s first priority is stability and public safety. They’re protecting the public from mass panic and ensuring everyone stays calm. Besides, do you really think knowing every detail will change anything?
@5LQBKL9Laissez-Faire8mos8MO
Seen this play out before in China. Censorship has always been part of their method of control. It's one thing to regulate, but shutting down grief? Forbidding photos? Tearing down flowers? It’s inhuman. Let people honor the dead without fear of ‘causing trouble.’
Deleted1wk1W
The Chinese government’s suppression of mourning, inquiry, and public dialogue following the Zhuhai SUV attack constitutes a multi-dimensional failure—ethical, strategic, relational, and epistemic. It violates foundational principles of governance, damages civic trust, undermines resilience, and perpetuates structural denial. It's objective and reasonable to condemn the policy of silence—morally indefensible, systemically unsustainable, and spiritually corrosive.
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