A study on violent crimes to Chinese abroad students and their self-defense

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate violent crimes targeted at Chinese students studying abroad in different counties and self-defense behaviors of these students during attacks. It was expected that the findings of this research be used as a scientific base for designing self-defense curricula for these students and for all Chinese universities. The research analyzed all reported 106 women cases and 89 men cases from all sources of media during 2000-2016 years, based on six categories: murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, kidnapping, and bullying. The results indicated that USA had highest number of violent crimes to Chinese abroad students. Most victims were attacked by single attacker and some by two attackers. Violent crimes happened to Chinese abroad students in all academic status, including high school, undergraduate, master, and doctoral programs. Attackers included strangers, former or current dates, classmates, and roommates. Weapons used by attackers included knives, blunt objects, and guns. The barehanded attacks included mainly kicks, punches, chokes, and throws. The attacking pattern used commonly was sudden attacks. The main triggering factors of violent crimes included date-oriented problems, arguments and conflicts, rape and robbery oriented, and hate. Self-defense behaviors showed in a few cases. The results suggested formal self-defense education, utilizing the findings of this research as a base for self-defense curriculum design, for Chinese abroad students and Chinese universities.