Yunnan is the most beautiful province in southwest China. It is called the “South of Colourful Clouds” and its pleasant climate, natural scenery and multi-ethnic culture attract both domestic and international tourists, including those from Thailand.
In the last four years, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, located near the Laos and Myanmar borders in Yunnan, attracted more than 80,000 tourists from Thailand, accounting for nearly 70% of all foreign tourists. Air Asia opened a new route from Bangkok to Kunming, Yunnan’s provincial capital, last year boosting the number of Thai tourists.
Kunming is known as the “City of Eternal Spring”. In our mind, the city is synonymous with an easy pace of life. However, that image was tarnished with the terror attack that took place on March 1.
I was shocked when I heard the news of the stabbing spree. I could not believe it happened in China, especially in Kunming. But it did happen. At 9pm, on any given day Kunming Railway Station is bustling with people homeward bound. It was then that horror struck. In less than 30 minutes, attackers had left 29 dead and more than 130 injured.
The woeful news upset the nation. From the afternoon of March 2, Kunming citizens placed wreaths and flowers in front of the station square to mourn the victims. The communal mourning was more formal in the evening, with people lighting candles, and some of them keeping vigil for the entire night, praying for the dead.
The next few days, all the web portals in China changed their background to grey, black and white. The same happened after catastrophes like the Wenchuan and Yushu earthquakes.
After this terrorist attack, one thing however, soothed my nerves quite unexpectedly: the public were more rational and the media more humane.
Of course, grief and outrage are normal feelings. We insist that the terrorists deserve no sympathy and should be punished with zero tolerance. On the other hand, a number of rational opinions spread rapidly through all kinds of media, and a large number of netizens forwarded them to remind people to keep their level-headedness.
These opinions were: First of all, don’t turn outrage for the terrorists into hostility towards ethnic people — that’s the reaction the terrorists want. Second, don’t distort the way we fight back against violence to the discrimination of ethnic people. Third, ignore the voice of extreme reactions, and to respond to them is to disseminate that feeling. Lastly, don’t believe and spread rumours.
On Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, netizens have spread the word to stop the circulation of bloody photos on the Internet. The People’s Daily — the largest government newspaper in China — posted “Let’s pray for the dead. Also bear this in mind: First, don’t highlight the brutal methods and bloody pictures in case other would-be terrorists find inspiration in them. Second, please don’t fabricate rumours or believe any outlandish things you may hear. Justice will prevail and evil will be punished.”
At the same time, the media and public started to find comforting angles in the terrifying story, and that wasn’t easy. They found many moving things and admirable characters in this attack, such as a security guard who rushed to stop the terrorists and hit one of them. Unfortunately, he was killed. The deputy director of the police station at Kunming train station, Zhang Liyuan, was knifed to death, too. He was trying to draw away the terrorists by attracting attention to himself.
The restaurants and shops nearby sheltered many civilians who came to seek help. A small restaurant was full of people. When there was no standing room left on the floor, the proprietress asked them to stand on the tables and stoves.
A lot of Chinese have also begun the process of self-reflection. Protocol to respond to the terrorist attack was lacking. After the event, media disseminated tips about what to do in the event of a terrorist attack. The information included dealing with different situations such as bombs, gunfire, hijackings, and chemical attacks.
Why was Kunming targeted?
According to the analysis in the Chinese media, Kunming is a popular destination for both Chinese and foreign tourists, and anyone who travels on China’s rail and bus systems knows the security check there is extremely lax. In other inland cities, terrorists could’ve been easily intercepted because of strict security. Therefore, Kunming and the rest of the country has stepped up security after the attack.
Order was restored at Kunming station the day after the event. Kunming Changshui International Airport has also beefed up its security and equipment.
It’s now been a week since the attack, and social and public order has recovered rapidly. I hope the people there can overcome their grief and fear. I do hope that the beautiful city will return to its peaceful self very soon.
Cui Yuchen is a Chinese journalist in Bangkok on the FK exchange programme.