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Last June, a man attacked a Japanese mother and her child at a bus stop in Suzhou but ended up killing a Chinese woman trying to protect them.

He was detained in 2021 by the local bureau of China’s counterintelligence agency in the southeastern city of Suzhou, after China had closed its borders and imposed tight domestic travel restrictions and social controls to fight the spread of COVID-19.

The Sept. 18 assault— which took place on the anniversary of Japan’s invasion of Manchuria, now northeastern China— follows a similar one in June, in which a man in his 50s attacked a Japanese woman and her preschooler with a knife as they waited for a school bus in the eastern city of Suzhou.

In June, a man targeted a Japanese mother and her child in the eastern city of Suzhou.

China’s economy may be facing some significant hurdles but, as Wang Xi speaks, he looks out across the customers sitting at little tables and chairs staring down Suzhou Creek towards a gleaming Shanghai skyline and – on this night – it’s hard not to share his optimism.