Lifting the Mask on Mental Disorders

(Beijing) - In less than two months, a series of vicious school attacks has left the public stunned and grasping for answers on the subject of public mental health in China.

During the court proceedings of the Nanping case in Fujian Province, the killer Zheng Minsheng claimed he wanted revenge on his ex-girlfriend, but exact motives remained unclear. Zheng's was the first attack on schools out of six that occurred across the country from March to May. In Beihai city, Guangxi Province, the assailant had a history of mental illness. Police reports from the most recent school attacks in Nanzheng County, Shaanxi Province, said the attacker, Wu Huanming, exhibited signs of extreme anxiety, fear and panic prior to the killings.