JIANGSU, East China — For years, Hu Youping was seldom seen in Jiaoling, a village in the Yangtze River Delta region, last visiting briefly during this year’s Spring Festival. Now, her legacy extends far beyond her hometown’s quiet community, resonating across China and Japan.

In an extraordinary act of courage, Hu, a school bus chaperone, was fatally stabbed while protecting a young Japanese student and his mother from a knife-wielding assailant in the eastern city of Suzhou.

Eyewitnesses recall that as the attacker advanced toward the students, Hu intervened, wrapping her arms around him in an effort to restrain him. Her actions allowed others to flee, but she sustained multiple stab wounds as the attacker struggled to escape. The assailant was eventually subdued by bystanders.

Despite being rushed to the hospital, Hu died two days later, on June 26, exactly a month shy of her 55th birthday. One of the knife blows had pierced her heart, causing hemorrhagic shock and excessive blood loss.

Her sacrifice did not go unnoticed, across Suzhou, China, and Japan.

The site of Hu’s brave confrontation transformed into a shrine of remembrance, with locals from Suzhou, Japanese families, and even delivery riders placing flowers and bouquets as a symbol of communal grief and respect.

The Suzhou government honored her bravery, posthumously awarding her the title “Model of Righteousness and Courage in Suzhou” during a memorial event, and announced the establishment of the “Youping Bravery Fund” to honor courageous acts.

In a gesture of respect, the Embassy of Japan in China lowered its flag to half-staff on June 28 as a mark of respect. On the microblogging platform Weibo, the embassy stated: “Ms. Hu Youping protected innocent women and children from the hands of the criminal through her own efforts. Her courage and kindness also reflect the virtues upheld by the vast majority of the Chinese people.”

But to the residents of Jiaoling Village in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, Hu was better known by her nickname Xiaoping, the “pretty village girl” who, like most young locals, left for the city in search of better opportunities decades ago.

“Xiaoping had been away for over 30 years. Her mother lives in a nursing home now and I don’t know if she knows about her situation — probably not,” says Shuhe, a 76-year-old villager who lives across from Hu’s childhood home and runs a local furniture store.

While some in Jiaoling Village remembered her as a symbol of youthful dreams, Hu’s life in the city was far from easy. From starting at a textile mill to working at a housekeeping agency, managing a small shop, and venturing into e-commerce videos, Hu had to adapt to survive.

When the pandemic forced her back into part-time housekeeping jobs, she eventually found work as a school bus chaperone. Though modest, her final job left an indelible mark on her community — her lasting legacy in the face of tragedy.

Home to hustle

On a sweltering July afternoon, two yellow school buses stood unattended in front of Hu’s childhood home, a modest one-story house in Jiaoling. The buses belonged to her younger brother, Hu Youjia, who, like his sister, worked every day with schoolchildren.

“Her younger brother just got married and drives a school bus. During holidays, he goes back to Huai’an (in northern Jiangsu) and is not at home,” says Shuhe, who used a pseudonym to protect her privacy.

When she saw the news clip about Hu on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, she instantly recognized the familiar name and photo. “I recognized her as Xiaoping because she looked very much like her mother,” recalls Shuhe. “It was a good thing that she saved someone, but she was only in her 50s, so young.”

The third of four children, Hu’s childhood home sits by a provincial highway, surrounded by factories and auto repair shops. Across the street from her house once stood her eldest brother Hu Youde’s flour mill, now rented out. Only the signboard “Youde’s Flour Mill” remains visible.

The current owner tells Sixth Tone that Youde moved to Italy many years ago.

Apart from the passing heavy trucks, both vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the village are sparse. A 78-year-old villager surnamed Zhang, who runs a roadside convenience store, says most of the young people in Jiaoling Village, including her children, have left for work in cities.

Just like Hu’s own family. According to Shuhe, Hu’s house is often unoccupied, except when her younger brother returns to work as a bus driver when school starts. Her father died years ago, and her 83-year-old mother, diagnosed with diabetes, now lives in an elderly care center near the village, mainly looked after by Hu’s older sister.

At 20, Hu ventured out of Jiaoling to Suzhou, nearly 300 kilometers away, where a textile mill recruited her. Shortly after, Hu put down roots in the city, started her own family, and gave birth to a son who married in 2022.

More than two decades later, Hu switched jobs in 2016, starting at a newly established housekeeping agency in the city. A staff member from the agency, who did not respond to Sixth Tone’s interview request, posted Hu’s purported résumé on the lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu in honor of her bravery.

“She acted courageously and deserves to be honored as a people’s hero! Faced with a dangerous situation, Auntie Hu Youping stood up bravely, fought with the criminal, and became our guardian angel, our hero,” the post stated. “We will forever remember the heroic deeds of this always-smiling auntie.”

Around the same time, Hu also worked as the head of a cleaning team at an industrial park. “The more ordinary a person is, the more shocking it is when they do something like Hu did,” says Xu, the current team head, who has worked at the park the longest since last year.

Xu, who has seen countless news clips about Hu’s selfless act, adds, “At that time, she would have been protecting the child out of her sense of duty, without thinking too much.”

Hu’s career took a significant turn in 2020, when she ventured into the burgeoning world of e-commerce. According to Ifeng News, Hu rented a small shop named DM Fashion near her home in Suzhou, which is now closed and converted into an express station.

During her foray into business, Hu also developed a passion for creating short videos on Douyin, often engaging in humorous skits despite her modest acting skills.

In one of the videos she posted in May 2020, she dances to a slow waltz in a traditional Chinese-collared pea green blouse, white pants, and white leather sandals, captioning it, “Dancing a slow waltz alone is awkward.”

However, Hu’s entrepreneurship did not last long as the pandemic prompted her to pivot back to part-time housekeeping jobs. Last year, she started working as a chaperone on the school bus at the Japanese School of Suzhou, the first such school in Jiangsu, established in 2005 to offer education to the children of local Japanese workers.

Guardian angel

As the chaperone of the school bus, Hu was responsible for maintaining order and ensuring the safety of the students. A parent, surnamed Yan, from the Japanese School told domestic media that chaperones meticulously verify the list of students boarding the bus, with assistance from parent volunteers who take shifts to help with the work.

According to Xinhua News, the violent knife attack occurred at around 4 p.m. on June 24 when the school bus dropped students off at the Xindi Center bus stop.

According to a statement from one of the Japanese adults present, Hu’s intervention allowed students to escape. Eyewitnesses say that Hu first grabbed the attacker from behind and held on, even as he stabbed her repeatedly, causing her to fall until passing drivers and police officers subdued him.

Eyewitnesses told domestic media, “If the suspect had not been stopped at the time, more people would have been injured.”

The attacker was later identified as a 52-year-old nonlocal, unemployed man surnamed Zhou. Authorities have yet to disclose the motive behind the attack.

While the incident sent shockwaves across the country and initiated an outpouring of grief and tributes, a troubling wave of online harassment emerged, branding Hu a “traitor” and absurdly lauding the attacker’s act as patriotic.

In response, the influential state-owned newspaper People’s Daily condemned the exploitation of xenophobia, while major platforms like NetEase, Sina Weibo, Tencent, and Douyin took down posts inciting hate.

Many took to social media to condemn such posts, arguing that Hu’s act was a bold stand against extremism and that her sacrifice not only saved lives but upheld societal values.

And as local governments and individuals quickly offered support, Hu’s family politely declined to accept any donations.

“After unanimous discussion among family members, we have decided not to accept donations of money or materials, and we also hope not to be disturbed anymore,” Hu’s family members told Suzhou Daily. “We only wish that she may rest in peace and that the family members can return to a peaceful life as soon as possible.”

Back in Suzhou last week, in stark contrast to the two buses left unattended outside Hu’s village home, a fleet of bright yellow school buses pulled up at the Xindi Center bus stop around 4 p.m.

And at the spot where Hu made the ultimate sacrifice, parents lined up patiently, waiting for their children to disembark, just days before school closes for summer holidays.

The flowers and bouquets placed to honor Hu are all gone. Instead, plainclothes security personnel, each equipped with earpieces, stand guard around the perimeter.

Editor: Apurva.

(Header image: Visuals from Ifeng News and VCG, reedited by Sixth Tone)