For unpaid wages, dismissal, or financial harm, use complaints and legal proceedings instead of revenge
Legal proceedings may fail to recover money. Retaliatory violence can leave the money unrecovered and destroy your own life as well. In the Wuxi campus case, a man angry about not receiving a diploma and about internship pay killed eight people and injured 17; he was sentenced to death and executed. Wage-enforcement channels, by contrast, recovered RMB 8.65 billion for 654,000 workers in 2024.
What it takes
Complaints and labor arbitration are free. Expect one or two visits and potentially several months of waiting. The hard part is not acting on anger during that period.
What you may gain
In 2024, labor inspectors nationwide handled 137,000 cases and recovered RMB 8.65 billion for 654,000 people; 998 people were sentenced for refusing to pay labor remuneration. See the wage-recovery procedure. Criminal Law Article 232 provides death, life imprisonment, or at least ten years for intentional homicide, with three to ten years for relatively minor circumstances. In the official Wuxi case, Xu Jiajin had failed examinations, had not received a graduation certificate, and was dissatisfied with internship pay. On 16 November 2024 he returned to Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology and attacked people with a knife, killing eight and injuring 17. He was sentenced to death for intentional homicide and deprived of political rights for life; following Supreme People’s Court approval, the sentence was carried out on 20 January 2025. His grievance concerned the school and payment, but fellow students became the victims, and violence did not recover the money.
Context & considerations
A student internship does not generally establish an employment relationship. An unpaid internship allowance may require school mediation or a civil claim rather than labor arbitration. For employees’ wages, see complaints and arbitration. Debt collection also has strict limits; see never detaining a debtor. A completed case does not guarantee collection, but violence neither fixes that problem nor preserves your freedom.
Research & references
National People’s Congress (1997). Criminal Law, Article 232. https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/201802/t20180206_364975.shtml; Xinhua (2024). Eight killed and 17 injured in a campus knife attack in Yixing, Jiangsu, reporting the police statement. http://www.news.cn/20241117/65a18fddb453469ebe91c78eda669893/c.html; Supreme People’s Procuratorate (2025). Execution of Xu Jiajin in the Wuxi campus attack case. https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/zdgz/202501/t20250120_680197.shtml; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (2025). 2024 statistical bulletin. https://www.mohrss.gov.cn/SYrlzyhshbzb/zwgk/szrs/tjgb/202506/W020250616518526345602.pdf; Supreme People’s Court (2025). Work Report, discussing the Fan Weiqiu and Xu Jiajin cases. https://www.gov.cn/yaowen/liebiao/202503/content_7013680.htm.