Stuff like that's bound to happen, it's unavoidable. A Chinese friend of mine got a call from a Chinese friend of his asking him to meet up because the caller wanted to go out and find a foreigner to beat up.  

  Apparently some westerner had stolen his girlfriend so he wanted to take it out on a westerner. It's classic, mindless, old as the hills stupidity and bigotry. Unique to no nation. Bound to get more of it in the cities with the larger foreigner populations, like Beijing, because the numbers create a threat, which throws fear into the mix.

  Ironically i've found life in general safer in the cities where I can spend a month without seeing another foreigner. The last time I went to Shanghai my friend got mugged on the first day there. I've been in Guangxi (where foreigners are far fewer) for the past seven years, and never had a whisper of trouble.

  My Chinese friend talked his mate out of beating someone up by the way.

Terrible tragedy. Imagine taking that sort of trip, and in your first few days after arriving being murdered out of the blue, for nothing other than he stood out as a target. I mean I guess he was targeted because he was a white guy, but I do not know that for sure.

  Wow,,   Nietzsche was right..  The Devil won...

I am not condoning such an action but it has to be put in context. There is still a far greater likelihood that a foreign national would become a victim of crime or murder in western cities such as New York or even parts of London. Also prime areas such as the middle east or Africa.

Crime may be rising in China. I also think that is down to socio-economic conditions and would certainly be exacerbated by the ever widening gap between the haves and have nots in China. Tourists in all countries are ripe for the picking because of the perception that they carry more cash and valuables.

I don't think US media is doing enough to turn it into an international incident lumping all countries that aren't the USA together. 

what happpen and when havnt heard a thing

Most foreigners in Beijing are happy people who have already decided to spend their time and money and attention towards China. So they are a 'compliment' and can be called 'friends of China'. 

It is also considered a great thing for them to spend all their money in China too. This benefits everyone.

      In fact, most foreigners I have met in China would be counted among the people who love China the most, help China the most, help Chinese and respect the country and culture. 

           But, having said that, I have a horrible feeling in me. Call it an 'intuition' or a prediction. I have a terrible feeling China's next step is to become the next Russia. Thugs, criminals, senseless violence, gangs 'mafia' will rule vast areas, foreigners will be seen as easy to kidnap or just murder for 'fun' and every dirty criminal, cheater and theif will have their great days.

              And of course, we know most Russians are not like that  - but the good ones lost control to the stupid materialistic thugs.

Most Chinese are not stupid animals or 'sub-humans' or criminals or violent thieves...  but it can quickly degenerate into their game. 

And I don't know what's going on. Maybe its just the increasing availability of iphone cameras (even old mobile phones take videos) and the increasing speed and availability of internet,

but,

some have pointed out the huge number of extremely violent crimes being recorded and uploaded out of China and onto the internet to become 'viral videos' of such extreme public violence and even murders, stabbings.. all seen in broad daylight. 

Are we just seeing something that is always happening?

Or is this a new trend.. a terrible new trend showing China degenerate into a high crime era?

shit happens, even in safe places (like China)

nevermind: we don't know that story to be true. they could have used that to cover what really happened.  

and china is not as safe as it seems. most crimes are covered up or go unreported or are committed by the gov. (forced murder of a 7 month old fetus)

i am too lazy to scroll up, but a poster above mentioned the increase in uploaded videos of crimes. that has always been there, now people are equipped with mobile cameras.

my thoughts on the incidents (lets not forget the guy murdered by the police in gz) too many people  believe the BS their gov or the TV box tells them. so this was bound to happen.

this is most important. everyone walk with your head on a swivel and do not intervene in any situation. i do not care if a parent is beating their child to death. china is a backwards thinking country, you are automatically in the wrong by virtue of your race. and they will shape the story to place you in the wrong.

Redaria: "What's going on at the moment"? 99Silva: "I'm preparing for dinner"!

I'm actually gonna use this dialogue when I'm tutoring. Thanks big Red!