4 Cornell College professors stabbed during teaching trip to China

JILIN CITY, China — A man has been arrested in connection with the killings of four Iowa university professors who were teaching in China as part of a partnership with a local university.

Cornell College instructors were visiting Beishan Park with a Beihua University faculty member on Monday when officials said a 55-year-old man stabbed the four Americans after one of them bumped into him, reports CBS. Local police said the suspect also stabbed a Chinese tourist as they tried to intervene.

Police said they received the call around 11:49 a.m. local time Monday and sent officers to the public park. Cellphone footage shows two men and a woman lying on the ground, covered in blood. They appeared conscious and were talking on their cell phones.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday that none of the foreign nationals were seriously injured in the “isolated incident” and that they were all “rushed to the hospital and received appropriate medical treatment.

Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said her office is in contact with the U.S. Embassy in China to ensure victims receive quality care and are returned home safely. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said she has been in contact with the state's federal delegation and the State Department.

“China is widely considered one of the safest countries in the world. China has taken effective measures and will continue to take relevant measures to protect the safety of foreign nationals in China,” Lin said. “We believe that this isolated incident will not disrupt normal cultural and human exchanges between the two countries.”

Mass stabbings in China

China has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the world, thanks in part to strict gun controls and mass surveillance, CNN reports. However, it continues to face mass knife attacks in public places, including hospitals and schools.

In May, two people were killed and 21 others injured in a stabbing attack at a hospital in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

Last year, six people were killed and another injured in a knife attack outside a kindergarten in the southern province of Guangdong. In 2022, three were killed and six were injured in another stabbing outside a kindergarten in the eastern province of Jiangxi.

Cornell College and Beihua University Partnership

The partnership between Cornell College and Beihua University began in 2018. According to information posted on Cornell's website, the Chinese institution funds educators from the Mount Vernon, Iowa, school to live in China and teach part of a course in the fields of computer science. science, mathematics and physics for periods of two weeks.

China is trying to increase educational cooperation with the United States, which has suffered significant setbacks due to the pandemic and increased tensions between the two countries, according to CNN.

During a visit to the United States in November, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said his country would invite 50,000 young Americans to China for exchange and study programs over the next five years to strengthen ties. personnel between the two countries.

Cornell College President Jonathan Brand said no students at the school were participating in the program at the time of the incident.

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