China’s Stressed People Are Starting to Turn on Each Other

Ms. Gao, a freelance writer, wrote from Beijing.

For years, the mood in China has been darkening.

A weakening economy has left many disillusioned, a state of mind expressed privately and across the heavily controlled internet in lowered expectations and quiet anxiety.

Some of that may now be surfacing in more troubling ways.

In March, a man drove a heavy construction vehicle through an outdoor market in a Beijing suburb, reportedly killing several people. In June, a small aircraft crashed into a prominent office building in the capital, killing the pilot and........

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