The Bloody Tragic Event in Beijing exposes a China the World do not See
-- Behind murder of American in Beijing, a tale of despair and dislocation

International Herald Tribune

Behind murder of American in Beijing, a tale of despair and dislocation

By Andrew Jacobs
Sunday, August 10, 2008

BEIJING: Tang Yongming was like countless other middle-aged, marginally
skilled men struggling to find their way in the new China. Laid off from
a meter factory in the central city of Hangzhou, Tang, 47, briefly
sustained himself as a security guard and then, two years ago, found
himself idle and living alone in a rented room with no furniture.

Friends and former co-workers said he was irritable, unmoored and unable
to find his footing in the surging Chinese economy.

But even though Tang had moments of despair and frustration, those who
knew him were at a loss to explain why he attacked a group of American
tourists Saturday, fatally stabbing a 63-year-old man and slashing two
others before leaping to his death from the balcony of the Drum Tower,
one of the best-know historic monuments in Beijing.