Safety fears among Japanese expatriates have led to an 11% decline in enrollment at Japanese schools in China, a year after a shocking knife attack in Suzhou. The incident has left many foreign workers opting to keep their families in Japan due to ongoing security worries.

On June 24, 2024, a violent attack unfolded near a Japanese school in Suzhou, where a man stabbed a Japanese woman and her young son at a bus stop. Chinese school bus attendant Hu Youping bravely intervened but was fatally wounded, losing her life at the age of 54.

The aftermath of the tragedy continues to ripple through the expatriate community, with heightened police presence in the area, as seen in recent patrols near the crime scene. The decline in school enrollments reflects the lingering unease among Japanese families living in China.