Mourners left tributes to the boy who was killed in the attack last year. (AFP: Ichiro Ohara)
In short:
Two men have been sentenced to death for separate deadly stabbings in China.
One man killed a 10-year-old child outside a school, while another man died after shielding a mother and child from attack on a bus.
The killing of the child raised concerns about China's patriotic education system and relations with Japanese nationals.
A man has been sentenced to death for killing a Japanese boy in China, Japan's Kyodo news agency has reported, citing Japanese ambassador to China, Kenji Kanasugi.
The boy, a 10-year-old Japanese national born to a Japanese father and a Chinese mother, was stabbed on his way to school on a morning in September last year. He died the following day.
The assailant, identified by Chinese authorities as a 44-year-old man surnamed Zhong, was formally arrested in late November on suspicion of murder, Kyodo had reported.
The attack took place on the anniversary of an incident in 1931 that triggered war between China and Japan, a sensitive date at a time when diplomatic relations are in danger of deteriorating.
China's compulsory patriotic education
Photo shows A close up of a large group of performers in blue and white uniforms waving CCP flags at centenary celebrations.
The incident in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen last year sparked debate about the country's patriotic education practises.
Kyodo said on Friday Chinese authorities described the case as an accidental and isolated incident, without giving motives.
It was second such incident near Japanese educational centres in China last year.
In June, a man attacked a bus used by a Japanese school in the eastern city of Suzhou, resulting in the death of a Chinese national who tried to shield a Japanese mother and her child from the assailant.
A court in Suzhou sentenced that assailant to death on Thursday, Kyodo reported.
Two other men were executed last week for "revenge against society" crimes in China.
Fan Weiqu, 62, rammed his car into a crowd outside a sports stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai in November, killing at least 35 people, was executed on Monday.
Xu Jiajin killed eight people and injured 17 others in a stabbing attack at his vocational school in the eastern city of Wuxi.
Reuters/ABC