Victims and survivors of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region shared their stories in a special report that was released by the Institute for Communication and Borderland Governance at Jinan University on Thursday.
The report, "Victims and Survivors of Terrorism in China; An Oral History", recounts the harrowing tales told by those who lived through the attacks that took place on a pedestrian street in Yecheng county, Xinjiang in February 2012.
Wang Tiancheng, owner of a grain and cooking-oil shop on Xingfu Road in Yecheng, was one of the survivors who told his story in the report.
The 60-year-old recalled that on Feb 28, 2012, he has been feeling weak because he had spent a week getting intravenous fluids at a hospital. He was standing with his back to the back door of his shop when he was attacked by terrorists wielding axes and machetes.
"Their axes were so big, and the hafts were so long," Wang said. He said his first thought was that they were going to kill him.
The terrorists looked very fierce, and a glance at their eyes would have undoubtedly freaked out someone with a weak mentality, he recalled.
"They only wanted to kill people, so they slashed directly at people's necks or heads," Wang said.
Wang's head and shoulder were slashed. When a doctor examined his wounds later, the doctor told him that the bone in his shoulder would have been broken if the machete had gone half a centimeter deeper, according to Wang.
"I didn't expect a terrorist attack, but the terrorists came prepared," he said.
Wang said he spent 46 days in the hospital after the attacks. The government covered all his expenses, which amounted to 20,000 yuan ($2,792).
He also recalled hearing about other attacks that occurred that day.
"An auxiliary police officer was hacked to death. I heard that the police officer was on duty at the back door of Xingfu Road, directing traffic in the middle of the road. And a 60-year-old woman was sitting in front of a rice noodle shop across the street when three terrorists hacked her jawbone with an axe," he said.
A total of 9 terrorists divided into three groups and attacked people along the road that day. Most of the victims were elderly, sick, disabled or women, Wang said.
