Four American college professors were attacked in a Chinese public park

After being stabbed by an unidentified attacker in a Chinese public park, four US university teachers are now being treated in a hospital. A statement from Iowa Cornell College said that the professors suffered injuries in a "serious incident" while visiting a park throughout the day in the northern region of Jilin.

Representative Adam Zabner of Iowa said that his brother David was one of the four teachers hurt in what he called a stabbing-like event. He said that on Monday, when the group was at a nearby temple, a guy with a knife assaulted them. According to Mr. Zabner, his brother was in the hospital getting well after being stabbed in the arm in Jilin City's Beishan Park.

He told CBS News, "He hasn't been released yet this morning, but he's doing okay."

Although they were aware of allegations of a stabbing incident in Jilin, a US State Department representative informed the BBC that they were unable to give any details. The four teachers had been instructing "as part of a partnership with a university in China", according to Cornell College. One of the Beihua University members was with the group when they visited the park on Monday.

Even though Chinese officials have not yet commented on the event, pictures of its aftermath have already been widely circulated on social media. There seem to be at least three persons bleeding and laying on the ground in the images that are going around. Nonetheless, it seems that China's internet swiftly suppressed the occurrence. Despite the keyword "foreigners Jilin" being hot on Weibo, searches for it on Tuesday yielded no results.

Instead, internet users turned to conversations under related subjects, and some were even seen requesting more details about the occurrence. The event has not received many coverage from Chinese official media either.

According to Mr. Zabner, his brother, a doctorate candidate at Tufts University, had already been to China and was now on his second tour there with Cornell College. Beijing and Washington have recently attempted to reestablish people-to-people interactions amidst tight diplomatic ties. While Chinese diplomats claim that a travel advice issued by the US State Department has deterred Americans from visiting China, Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced a plan to welcome 50,000 young Americans to China over the course of the next five years.