From CNN:
“When my friend told me about the shooting, I thought it was the United States,” one person wrote on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. Another user wrote, “Using a gun to kill people in China? Am I watching an American movie?”
That disbelief widely reflects how rare gun crime is in China — in contrast to it being a daily reality in the US.
The difference is stark when it comes to public safety. Despite being the world’s most populous country, with 1.4 billion residents, China only records a few dozen gun crimes a year. And more broadly, violent crime has continued falling, reaching its lowest level in 20 years in 2020, according to state-run news outlet Xinhua.